BX  7321  .A3 

Ainslie,   Peter,  1867-1934. 
The  message  of  the  Disciples 
for  the  union  of  the 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 

https://archive.org/details/messageofdisciplOOains 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples 
for  the  Union  of  the  Church 


For  other  books 
by  Peter  Ainslie 
see  the  last  pages 
of  this  volume. 


Lectures  Delivered  Before  the  Talt 
Divinity    School,    New  Haven 

The  Message  of  the  Disciples 
for  the  Union  of  the  Church 

Including  Their  Origin  and  History 


By 


PETER 


"^INSLIE 


Minister  Christian  Temple,  Baltimore,  Maryland; 
President  Commission  on  Christian  Union  of  the 
Disciples  of  Christ 


New  York         Chicago  Toronto 
Fleming     H.    Revell  Company 
London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:     100  Princes  Street 


To  my  grandfather 
Peter  Ainslie 

of  Edinburgh,  Scotland  (jy 88-1834)  >  fi^^* 
a  Presbyterian,  then  a  Baptist,  then  a  Disciple 
of  Christ  and  all  the  time  a  Christian ; 

and  to  my  father 

Pe  te  r  a  insl  IE 

of  Dunnsville,  Virginia  (18/6-1882),  a  Dis- 
ciple of  Christ  and  always  a  Christian,  both 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  and  both  throughout 
their  lives  unreservedly  committed  to  the  union 
of  the  divided  house  of  God 


Foreword 


ON  the  decision  to  publish  these  lectures 
in  book  form,  the  lecturer  asked  a  com- 
mittee of  well-known  Disciples  of  Christ, 
representing  the  East,  Middle  West  and  South- 
west of  the  United  States,  to  pass  on  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  interpretation  of  the  message, 
origin  and  history  of  the  Disciples  herein  given 
in  order  that  it  may  not  rest  upon  the  bare  words 
of  the  lecturer.  This  committee  consisted  of 
F.  D.  Kershner,  president  Texas  Christian  Uni- 
versity, Fort  Worth,  Texas ;  F.  W.  Burnham, 
minister  First  Christian  Church,  Springfield,  111., 
and  E.  B.  Bagby,  minister  Twenty-Fifth  Street 
Christian  Church,  Baltimore,  Md..  and  they  are 
of  one  accord  in  their  approval.  It  only  remains 
for  the  lecturer  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness 
to  these  gentlemen  for  their  courtesy  and  many 
valuable  suggestions. 

Peter  Ainslie. 

Baltimore,  Md. 


7 


Contents 


Lecture  Page 

I.  The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of 

Christ   ii 

II.  The  Origin  OF  THE  Disciples  OF  Christ  51 

III.  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  91 

Appendix   139 

(a)  The  Last  Will  and  Testament 

OF  THE  Springfield  Presbytery  141 

(S)  A  Declaration  and  Address     .  145 

(c)  Bibliography      .      .      .  .211 


9 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  THE  DISCIPLES  OF 
CHRIST 

LECTURE  ONE 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 


IN  giving  the  message  of  the  Disciples,  I  hope 
that  I  shall  not  drop  into  the  error  of  giving 
the  message  of  the  men  who  lived  a  hundred 
years  ago,  or  even  of  the  men  who  lived  in  the 
last  decade,  for  to  be  true  to  my  Lord  Jesus  and 
my  fellows,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  our 
widening  experiences  change  the  horizon  of  our 
belief.  Were  I  to  be  otherwise,  I  would  dishonour 
the  memory  of  my  father  and  my  grandfather, 
both  of  whom  were  ministers  among  the  Disciples, 
the  latter  pleading  for  a  united  Church  by  a 
return  to  the  Scriptures  in  association  with  the 
Haldanes  in  Scotland,  the  year  that  Campbell 
wrote  his  Declaration  and  Address.  To  be  other- 
wise I  would  dishonour  both  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Disciples  and  the  memory  of 
Alexander  Campbell  himself,  who  said  :  "  I  have 
endeavoured  to  read  the  Scriptures  as  though 
no  one  had  read  them  before  me ;  and  I  am  as 
much  on  my  guard  against  reading  them  to-day, 
through  the  medium  of  my  own  views  yesterday, 
or  a  week  ago,  as  I  am  against  being  influenced 
by  any  foreign  name,  authority  or  systems  what- 
soever." 

This  marked  distinctly  Campbell's  conception 


14    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

both  of  the  message  and  of  the  spirit  of  the  move- 
ment of  which  he  was  the  recognized  leader  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  and  likewise  it  is  the 
position  of  all  students  who  are  seeking  to  know 
God  better,  irrespective  of  systems  of  theology 
or  the  interpretations  of  yesterday.  Conditions 
change,  human  opinions  change,  interpretations 
change,  only  the  Bible  is  the  changeless  book. 

I 

One  of  the  greatest  hindrances  to-day  to  Chris- 
tian union  is  that  the  various  communions  have 
stuck  their  stakes  somewhere  in  the  past,  may 
be  centuries  ago,  around  the  thoughts  of  their 
founders,  as  though  those  men,  godly  as  they 
were,  were  as  infallible  as  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  the  result  is  that  every  advance  is 
made  in  the  face  of  protests.  I  do  not  say  that 
the  Disciples  are  entirely  free  from  this  same 
spirit,  for  we  are  but  men.  Sometimes  among 
us  there  is  a  disposition  to  quote  what  the 
fathers  say  as  a  rallying  cry  and  a  warning  not 
to  go  beyond  their  thoughts  and  practices.  But 
from  whatever  source  it  comes,  it  is  an  old  story 
— old  as  the  human  race.  Paul  contended  against 
it,  as  did  Wyclif,  Copernicus,  Galileo,  Luther,  Cal- 
vin, Milton,  Wesley  and  Campbell,  and  every  soul 
that  has  dared  to  look  out  of  its  day  into  the 
morning  of  another  has  had  to  fight  it.  Whether 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ    1 5 

done  by  the  Disciples  or  any  other  communion, 
it  is  a  violation  of  the  principles  of  progress — the 
same  progress  that  we  see  in  the  Scriptural  dis- 
pensations, the  same  progress  that  we  see  in  the 
laws  of  nature,  the  same  progress  that  is  manifest 
in  human  thought. 

These  are  not  days  for  radical  departures. 
Revolutions  become  necessary  only  when  prog- 
ress is  impeded.  They  are  abnormal  conditions 
due  to  the  arrest  of  progress.  No  revolution 
ever  suddenly  broke  forth.  Even  the  French 
Revolution,  as  sudden  as  it  appeared  to  have 
been,  had  back  of  it  years  of  tardy  growth,  and 
had  as  wise  statesmanship  controlled  the  affairs 
of  France  at  that  time  as  of  England,  for  both 
countries  were  slaves  to  the  feudal  system,  the 
disaster  might  have  been  averted.  But  the 
people's  long  pent  up  desire  for  another  day  broke 
forth,  and  the  doors  of  the  Bastile  went  down 
before  the  cry  of  a  populace  who  simply  wanted 
freedom,  the  atmosphere  of  which  fanned  their 
cheeks,  while  the  bonds  of  serfdom  held  them  fast. 

It  was  so  in  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Had  Hildebrand  been  pope  or  Leo  X 
less  extravagant  and  Tetzel  less  bold  there  would 
have  been  no  violent  break  such  as  turned  Europe 
into  a  field  of  martyrdom.  So  of  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries.  Had  the  various  com- 
munions been  less  arrogant  with  their  systems  of 
theology  and  more  loyal  to  Protestant  principles 


l6    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

there  would  have  been  no  occasion  for  such 
merciless  assaults  upon  creeds  and  ecclesiastical 
authorities. 

But  that  need  not  be  so  again.  One  of  the 
mottoes  of  scientific  advance  clearly  expresses 
nature's  law  :  Natura  non  facit  salttis — nature 
does  not  take  leaps.  Let  the  law  of  progress 
work  and  its  advance  will  be  as  gentle  as  the 
growth  of  the  grass  beneath  our  feet  or  the  ap- 
pearing of  the  stars  in  the  sky.  These  are  days 
of  calm  thought,  for  we  are  moving  amid  great 
crises.  Flowers  are  growing  and  human  sym- 
pathies are  breaking  out  of  their  accustomed 
boundaries  like  opening  petals  out  of  the  rose- 
bud. We  are  living  in  a  new  atmosphere,  new 
because  it  is  another  day.  Yesterday  was  good 
enough  for  us  when  we  were  in  it,  but  it  is  not 
good  enough  for  us  to-day  to  go  back  into  it  to 
live,  unless  the  Roman  Catholic  oppression  of  the 
sixteenth  century  and  the  credal  slavery  of  the 
eighteenth  century  are  better  than  the  freedom 
of  the  twentieth  century.  However,  with  those 
who  prefer  yesterday  over  to-day,  I  have  no 
quarrel,  but  God  is  opening  around  us  the  pages 
of  nature's  commentary  to  remind  us  of  the  higher 
paths,  where  love  is  law  and  peace  will  be  attained 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

Let  me,  at  the  outset,  attempt  to  correct  two 
erroneous  impressions  regarding  the  Disciples. 
First,  let  me  say  that  the  message  of  the  Dis- 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ    1 7 

ciples  is  not  an  invitation  to  all  Christendom 
to  come  over  and  join  us.  That  is  not  now  and 
never  has  been  the  position  of  the  Disciples, 
and  those  who  have  so  interpreted  their  mes- 
sage understand  neither  the  message  nor  the 
greater  problem  of  the  union  of  Christendom. 
For  instance,  if  even  one  of  the  larger  com- 
munions should  decide  at  their  next  annual 
gathering  to  abandon  all  of  their  denominational 
machinery  and  join  the  Disciples,  it  would  well- 
nigh  swamp  us,  for  already  we  are  taxed  to  our 
limit,  and  often  beyond  it,  in  our  effort  to  take 
care  of  our  rapidly  growing  membership,  and 
to-day  that  condition  presents  the  most  serious 
internal  problem  among  us  as  a  separate  com- 
munion. No,  it  is  not  for  other  communions  to 
come  over  and  join  us.  Were  that  true,  our 
message  would  parallel  that  of  the  papacy  and 
the  Lambeth  quadrilateral,  but  it  makes  no  such 
proposal.  It  cites  those  facts  upon  which  most 
Christians  are  agreed,  leaving  the  interpretation 
of  those  facts  to  private  opinion. 

And,  second,  let  me  say  that  because  we  take 
the  New  Testament  as  our  sole  rule  of  faith  and 
practice  and  wear  the  names  Christian  and 
Disciples  of  Christ,  we  do  not  claim  that  we  are 
the  Church  at  the  exclusion  of  others,  neither  do 
we  recognize  that  any  other  communion  can 
claim  that  to  itself.  Its  claim  is  as  out  of  place 
as  ours  would  be.    We  are  dealing  in  facts,  not 


i8    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

theories.  The  Church  of  Christ  is  divided  and 
the  Disciples  are  a  society  of  brethren,  seeking  to 
find  the  paths  of  peace,  whereby  the  divided 
Church  may  be  united,  and  we  desire  to  be 
brethren  to  all  who  are  brethren  in  Christ, 
irrespective  of  creeds  or  denominational  names. 
We  believe  that  we  have  made  a  definite 
contribution  to  the  peace  of  Christendom,  but 
we  do  not  believe  that  we  know  it  all.  We 
have  not  stopped  our  search,  but  using  what 
has  been  found  Scriptural  and  reasonable,  and 
against  which  the  world's  best  scholarship 
and  piety  have  made  no  dissent,  we  are  still 
pursuing  our  task.  We  have,  however,  no 
schemes  to  work.  We  have  no  wares  to  sell. 
We  have  no  claims  to  any  copyright  of  the  truth, 
nor  are  we  seeking  denominational  prestige,  nor 
asking  appreciation  of  any  one  for  whatever 
service  we  have  rendered. 

If  this  movement  is  of  God,  He  will  not  forget 
us  ;  if  it  is  not  of  Him,  we  desire  it  to  be  forgotten  ; 
but,  believing  that  it  is  of  the  Lord,  we  are 
students  of  the  problem  of  Christian  union  above 
all  other  issues  in  the  Church — not  every  Dis- 
ciple, but  thousands  of  us  are  students — not 
infallible  students,  but  students  like  the  rest  of 
mankind,  and  we  frankly  give  the  results  of  this 
research  to  the  Church  at  large,  as  Copernicus 
gave  the  results  of  his  discovery  to  the  scientists 
of  his  day  and  Columbus,  as  the  results  of  his 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  19 

westward  venture,  to  the  crown  of  Castile.  It  is 
then  to  the  divided  Church  to  determine  whether 
they  see  anything  worth  while  in  all  this  toil  and 
achievement  for  our  common  cause. 

Our  results  may  serve  as  a  basis  to  another 
movement.  We  do  not  know  and  we  do  not 
care,  but  that  they  have  a  value  their  history  has 
proven  beyond  question  to  all  unprejudiced  stu- 
dents of  the  union  of  Christendom,  aside  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  the  first  definitely  organized 
movement  in  the  history  of  the  Church  for  the 
healing  of  its  schisms.  All  movements  in  the 
name  of  God  count  for  something,  whether  they 
be  the  Brothers  of  the  Common  Life  with 
Thomas  a  Kempis  writing  his  "  Imitation  of 
Christ,"  or  the  Pietists  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
with  Philipp  Spener  as  court  chaplain  at  Dresden 
pleading  for  genuine  piety  in  religion,  or  the 
Quietists  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  with 
Fenelon  defending  Madam  Guyon's  conception 
of  true  holiness  against  Bossuet's  assaults. 
Movements  have  come  up  in  the  Church  like 
flowers  in  the  garden.  They  bloomed,  sweet- 
ened the  atmosphere,  dropped  their  petals  and 
faded  away,  but  the  garden  is  still  here  and  God, 
as  of  old,  walks  in  the  midst  of  it  and  around 
Him  are  new  growths,  and  it  is  to  us  to  find  the 
value  of  what  grows  in  the  garden.  "  What  is  a 
weed,"  said  Emerson,  "  but  a  plant  whose  vir- 
tues have  not  yet  been  discovered?"    We  are 


20    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

living  in  the  alphabet  period  of  the  world's  his- 
tory and  to  each  of  us  is  assigned  the  task  of  ar- 
ranging the  letters  in  order  to  read  the  message 
of  another's  cause,  and  to  the  degree  of  God  in 
us  the  letters  spell  the  worth  of  what  we  read. 

If  it  be  asked  whether  the  interpretation  that 
I  am  now  giving  to  the  message  of  the  Disciples 
is  universally  believed  and  practiced  by  the 
1,300,000  members,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I 
regret  my  answer  has  to  be  in  the  negative,  and 
I  need  not  go  into  the  causes  other  than  to  say 
that  the  tendency  to  legalism  has  often  stolen  the 
spirit  of  catholicity  from  the  message  of  the  Dis- 
ciples and  made  it  sectarian  and  weak.  We  are 
a  democracy  with  no  commanding  voice  among 
us  and  consequently  there  are  varieties  of  inter- 
pretations, and  these  in  time  will  settle  them- 
selves. Those,  however,  who  dissent  from  my 
interpretation  are  no  less  my  brethren,  and  the 
interpretation  that  I  give  has  back  of  it  the  con- 
viction and  practice  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  both  in  the  pulpit  and 
in  the  pew,  whose  lives  and  utterances  are  giving 
vision  and  hope  to  hearts  that  are  sincerely 
yearning  for  peace  in  the  house  of  God. 

Christian  union  is  not  a  doctrine  ;  but,  like 
Christ  Himself,  it  is  a  life,  and  only  this  phase  of 
it  is  the  chief  interest  to  us.  The  Church  is 
divided  by  schism  and  consequently  love  is 
marred,  life  is  weakened  and  the  conversion  of 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  21 

the  world  is  hindered,  therefore  above  all  the 
other  issues  of  Christendom  is  the  union  of  the 
Church  of  God.  I  do  not  mean  a  federation  of 
the  communions,  as  helpful  as  that  is.  I  do  not 
mean  a  mechanical  union  of  all  Christians,  al- 
though that  is  far  better  than  division,  but  I 
mean  nothing  less  than  a  union  like  that  for 
which  Jesus  prayed  and  without  which  the  world 
cannot  be  won  to  Him.  The  two  great  com- 
mandments of  the  Scriptures  are  :  "  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,"  and 
"  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."  If  we  have  kept 
only  the  first,  we  have  done  great  violence  to 
the  second,  and  history  is  our  solemn  witness. 
No  wonder  Sir  Robert  Walpole  said :  "  Don't 
read  history  to  me,  for  I  know  that  it  cannot  be 
true."  But  it  stands  as  a  grim  witness  to  our 
fratricidal  struggles,  to  which  Jesus  came  to 
bring  cessation. 

Older  than  the  New  Testament  and  above  all 
ordinances,  stand  these  two  essential  principles 
of  religion,  to  which  the  Scriptures  and  ordi- 
nances are  but  servants.  One  is  as  essential  as 
the  other,  and  to  separate  one  from  the  other 
both  are  weakened.  For  Christianity  to  be 
equipped  for  the  conquest  of  the  world,  love 
among  Christians  is  as  essential  in  practice  as 
the  belief  that  Jesus  is  the  only  begotten  Son  of 
God  is  essential  to  living  faith.    It  is  the  love 


22    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

that  runs  beyond  all  definitions  and  systems  of 
theology,  and  he  only  knows  it  who  practices  it. 

In  the  apostolic  conception,  schism  in  the  body 
of  Christ,  as  is  expressed  in  present  denomina- 
tionalism,  stands  by  the  side  of  adultery,  drunk- 
enness and  idolatry  and,  writing  to  the  Galatians, 
Paul  boldly  declared  :  "I  tell  you  before,  as  I 
have  also  told  you  in  time  past,  that  they  which 
do  such  things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God."  It  was  a  clear-cut  issue,  and  the  apostle 
sought  to  bring  up  the  conscience  of  the  early 
Church  on  schism  by  the  side  of  its  conscience 
on  the  grosser  sins. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  maintained  union 
in  part  by  the  sacrifice  of  liberty,  while  Protes- 
tantism maintained  liberty  at  the  sacrifice  of 
union,  but  the  time  has  come  when  both  union 
and  liberty  can  be  maintained  in  the  Church  of 
God,  and  the  history  of  nations  is  proving  it. 
The  Church  to-day  has  a  conscience  on  adultery, 
drunkenness  and  idolatry  and  would  not  for  a 
moment  tolerate  the  practicing  of  these  sins  on 
the  part  of  the  ministry  and  the  people.  In  re- 
cent years  there  has  been  a  rapidly  growing  con- 
viction in  all  communions  that  union  is  better 
than  division  and  when  the  whole  Church  has  a 
conscience  on  love  among  Christians,  and  it  is 
bound  to  come,  division  will  be  as  impossible 
then  as  an  adulterous,  drunken  and  idolatrous 
ministry  and  Church  is  impossible  now. 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  23 

The  prayer  of  Jesus  is :  "  That  they  all 
may  be  one ;  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I 
in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  Us  :  that 
the  world  may  believe  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me." 
There  can  be  but  one  interpretation  of  that 
prayer  and  that  is  that  the  normal  condition  of 
Christianity  is  one  flock,  and  therefore  denomi- 
nationalism  as  we  have  it  to-day  is  an  abnormal 
product  and  incompetent  to  carry  out  the  pro- 
gram of  Christ.  It  is  an  idle  dream  for  the 
Greek  or  the  Roman  Catholic  or  any  one  of  the 
Protestant  communions  to  think  of  conquering 
the  world  for  Christ.  It  is  against  Scripture, 
against  history  and  against  reason.  Talk  about 
the  conquest  of  China,  India  and  Japan,  we  are 
not  taking  our  own  home  land  for  Christ,  for  the 
combined  Christian  membership  is  not  a  third 
of  our  population,  and  many  of  these  are  only 
nominal  Christians.  The  chief  explanation  of 
this  condition  is  found  in  the  divisions  of  our 
American  Christianity.  The  world  has  wearied 
of  our  strife,  so  that  while  the  Church  has  been 
trifling  away  its  time  with  its  shibboleths,  social- 
ism and  kindred  movements  have  been  rising  in 
Europe  and  America  seeking  to  find  a  basis  for 
the  brotherhood  of  mankind,  just  as  the  inertia 
of  the  Church  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries 
offered  an  opportunity  for  the  rise  of  Mohammed- 
ism  or  anything  else  with  its  panacea  for  human 
discord. 


24    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  natural  sociability 
and  mutual  advantage  impel  men  to  union.  It 
is  an  inherent  force  in  human  nature.  One  of 
the  chief  purposes  of  Christianity  is  to  remove 
every  barrier  and  make  it  easy,  permanent  and 
spiritual  for  men  to  come  into  a  fellowship  for 
which  they  were  created  and  out  of  it  to  develop 
into  the  highest  of  earth's  products.  Instead, 
the  schismatic  condition  of  Christianity  is  defeat- 
ing the  purpose  of  its  existence  and  making  the 
impression  upon  unbelievers  that  schism  is  the 
order  of  heaven,  which  the  most  worldly  of  un- 
believers knows  is  not  true  from  his  own  natural 
desire  for  friendliness.  Thus  millions  are  hostile 
to  the  Church  and  see  no  advantage  in  its  fellow- 
ship. 

The  prayer  of  Jesus  is  the  breath  of  God 
against  the  walls  that  divide  the  flock,  whether 
those  walls  be  built  upon  national  peculiarities 
or  doctrinal  differences.  The  walls  must  come 
down.  It  is  the  prayer  of  Jesus,  and  just  as  the 
Holy  Spirit  came  at  the  fullness  of  time  in  an- 
swer to  His  prayer,  a  united  Church  shall  arise 
to  its  world  task,  likewise  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  that  same  Jesus.  He 
knew  the  weakness  of  Peter  and  He  prayed  that 
his  failure  might  not  be  absolute  ;  so  He  knows 
us — us  Christians  of  all  creeds  and  names — and, 
looking  through  the  centuries.  He  saw  our  weak- 
ness— our  schismatic  spirits — and  the  power  of 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  25 

the  prayer  that  lifted  the  penitent  apostle  back 
to  confidence  is  the  power  that  surrounds  us 
to-day,  and  through  the  prayer  of  Jesus  a  humble 
and  penitent  and  divided  Church  shall  become 
one  flock  as  there  is  one  Shepherd — a  union  not 
by  one  communion  surrendering  to  another,  nor 
by  several  communions  compromising  together, 
but  a  union  closer  than  that  between  children  of 
the  same  parents — a  union  the  ideal  of  which  is 
like  that  between  Jesus  and  the  Father.  Call  it 
quixotic  or  whatever  you  please,  but  it  is  as  far 
above  anything  we  have  now  as  Jesus  was  far 
above  all  conditions  of  His  day. 

He  who  turned  the  wicked  heart  of  Saul  of 
Tarsus  into  a  heart  like  His  own,  is  able  to  fully 
conquer  His  Church  from  sectarianism  and  un- 
brotherliness  in  order  to  equip  it  for  the  conquest 
of  the  world  and,  like  the  devout  Jews  of  old,  who 
diligently  sought  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah,  it  is  our  part  as  believers 
in  Jesus  to  yield  our  hearts  afresh  in  seeking  for 
the  way  to  His  united  Church,  for  the  union  of 
the  Church  of  God  is  as  much  a  part  of  the 
divine  program  as  the  death  of  Jesus  on  the 
Cross  and  His  resurrection  from  the  tomb. 

II 

In  sympathy  with  this  program  and  passion 
of  Jesus  the  Disciples  humbly  present  to  Chris- 


26    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

tendom  the  results  of  their  research  as  far  as 
they  have  gone  in  their  study  for  a  Scriptural 
and  reasonable  way  to  the  peace  of  Zion  : 

1.  That  division  in  the  Church  of  God  uncon- 

sciously hinders  the  spiritual  growth  of  all 
believers  and  directly  defeats  Christ's  pro- 
gram for  the  conquest  of  the  world,  there- 
fore the  union  of  Christendom  holds  prior- 
ity over  all  other  issues  at  this  time. 

2.  That  since  the  Sonship  and  Messiahship  of 

Jesus  furnish  the  basis  of  Christianity, 
acknowledgment  to  those  facts  out  of  a 
living  faith  in  Him  and  obedience  to  Him 
is  the  all-sufficient  basis  for  the  union  of 
the  divided  Church, 

3.  That  since  no  one  on  earth  is  infallible,  we 

should  abandon  all  systems  of  theology  as 
tests  of  fellowship,  making  them  schools 
of  thought,  and  go  directly  back  to  the 
Scriptures,  reading  them  as  though  they 
were  first  published  to-day,  frankly  asking. 
Who  is  the  speaker?  When  is  he  speak- 
ing ?  What  does  he  say  ?  And  how  would 
he  bring  one  to  Christ  ? 

4.  That  since   there  are  two  covenants — the 

Old  and  New  Testaments — and  the  first 
being  "  done  away  in  Christ,"  the  second, 
or  New  Testament,  is  the  only  book  of 
authority  in  the  Christian  life,  with  due 
reverence  and  study  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  was  God's  covenant  with  the  Jews. 

5.  That,  in  the  plan  of  salvation,  the  order  in 

the  New  Testament  appears  to  be,  hearing 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  27 

the  Gospel,  believing  it,  repenting  of  sin, 
confessing  Jesus  as  the  Christ  and  being  bap- 
tized in  obedience  to  Him,  as  man's  part. 

6.  That  from  the  New  Testament,  baptism  ap- 

pears to  be  a  spiritual,  symbolic  ordinance, 
performed  by  immersion  of  the  penitent 
believer  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

7.  That  Scriptural  names  for  believers  express 

more  definitely  the  believer's  relationship 
to  Christ  and  are  less  conducive  to  divi- 
sion than  any  others. 

8.  That  the  remembrance  of  the  death  and 

resurrection  of  Jesus  by  the  weekly  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  Supper  appears  from 
the  New  Testament  to  have  been  the 
practice  of  the  early  Church,  and  its  weekly 
observance  is  most  salutary  in  its  effects 
upon  the  lives  of  believers. 

9.  That  the  interpretation  of  these  facts,  and 

others  generally  accepted  by  the  Church, 
are  matters  of  private  opinion,  as  is  the 
order  of  worship  and  likewise  the  organiza- 
tion, which  beyond  elders  and  deacons  in 
each  Church,  and  even  that  organization 
is  not  essential,  appears  to  be  left  to  con- 
ditions as  they  arise,  only  that  the  spirit  of 
Christian  democracy  be  maintained. 

These  conclusions  were  the  result  of  a  most 
careful  research  for  a  union  basis  by  a  scholarship 
and  piety  that  found  them  just  as  Kepler  found 
his  laws  of  planetary  motion.    They  sought  for 


28    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

facts,  irrespective  of  consequences,  and  committed 
themselves  without  reservation  to  conclusions 
that  were  irresistible,  and  we  regard  their  dis- 
coveries as  simple  and  free  from  sectarianism 
according  to  their  presentation  and  practice. 
There  was  a  time  when  hardly  any  one  of  these 
conclusions  was  accepted  by  any  of  the  Protestant 
communions.  To-day  there  is  no  one  of  them 
but  is  accepted  by  some  of  the  communions,  so 
that  it  can  no  longer  be  said  that  any  of  them  is 
the  distinctive  position  of  the  Disciples. 

The  only  distinctive  peculiarity  of  the  Disciples 
now  remaining  is  that  the  Disciples  is  the  only 
communion  that  persistently  seeks  for  unity  by 
comprehension  of  them  all,  and  we  hope  as  the 
years  go  by  that  even  this  last  remaining  distinct- 
ive peculiarity  may  be  taken  away,  for  we  desire 
far  more  to  be  like  all  Christians  than  to  have 
anything  that  differentiates  us  from  the  least  of 
the  communions  of  Christendom.  And  in  addi- 
tion to  this,  the  Disciples  present  eighty  years  of 
history  with  the  practical  working  of  these  results, 
which  has  been  attended  by  phenomenal  growth. 

The  message  of  the  Disciples  aims  to  deal  with 
facts  rather  than  with  interpretations.  But  some 
may  ask.  Do  you  allow  all  Christians  to  observe 
with  you  the  Lord's  Supper  ?  Certainly,  for  we 
are  all  brethren  together.  And  do  you  require 
of  those  whom  you  baptize  to  join  your  Church  ? 
No,  frequently  it  is  best  that  they  should  not. 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  29 

for  they  can  perhaps  do  more  good  in  their  own 
communions.  There  are  already  thousands  of 
people  in  the  various  communions  giving  substan- 
tially the  same  message  as  the  Disciples,  in  both 
pulpit  and  pew,  and  we  rejoice  at  it,  for  it  makes 
less  sectarian  our  message,  and  the  same  cause 
thereby  is  being  advanced  from  other  quarters. 

Plain  as  these  results  look  to  us,  we  do  not 
think  less  of  other  Christians,  who  do  not  accept 
them,  and  no  Christian  should  be  offended  at  us 
for  presenting  them,  our  action  being  purely  out 
of  a  desire  for  the  peace  of  the  Church,  and  we  con- 
scientiously believe  that  it  is  the  most  practical  con- 
tribution that  has  been  made  to  the  solution  of  this 
grave  problem  ;  neither  are  we  disappointed  be- 
cause the  whole  Church  has  not  accepted  them. 
Scriptural  and  reasonable  as  they  appear  to  us, 
for  we  recognize  sincere  piety  and  unquestioned 
scholarship  among  those  Christians  who  do  not 
think  as  we  do.  It  takes  time  for  souls  of  even 
the  same  piety  and  scholarship  to  find  the  same 
view-point,  and  how  much  longer  must  it  neces- 
sarily take  for  the  masses  of  Christians  with  their 
varied  degrees  of  piety  and  scholarship  ?  The 
best  of  minds  differ,  and  in  patience  and  courtesy 
we  must  wait  our  time  and  be  no  less  faithful  to 
our  task. 

If  what  we  are  doing  in  this  common  cause  is 
not  recognized  by  our  brethren  of  other  commu- 
nions, that  is  of  small  concern.    The  conference 


30    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

of  Thorn  was  made  possible  by  the  influence  of 
George  Calixtus,  the  apostle  of  Christian  union, 
yet  his  own  communion  denied  him  a  seat  in 
its  councils.  It  was  three  hundred  years  after 
Grotius  wrote  his  "  Rights  of  War  and  Peace  " 
before  the  international  court  was  established  at 
the  Hague.  We  desire  the  love  and  confidence 
of  all  Christians,  but  at  the  same  time  we  love  the 
freedom  of  Scriptural  research  and  we  believe 
that  we  serve  our  brethren  of  other  communions 
best  in  presenting  some  definite  contribution  for 
the  peace  of  the  Church,  even  though  at  the 
first  presentation  it  raises  a  storm.  This  is 
natural,  for  it  undermines  long  established  tradi- 
tions, as  any  other  definite  result  would  do. 

In  the  meantime,  there  must  be  frankness,  con- 
fidence and  courtesy.  Personally  I  believe  in 
the  pre-millennial  coming  of  our  Lord.  I  never 
understood  my  Bible  until  I  got  that  view-point, 
and  it  has  been  a  blessing  in  my  life.  To  me  it 
is  as  fundamental  as  His  birth  in  Bethlehem, 
His  death  on  the  Cross,  or  His  resurrection  from 
the  tomb,  and  there  is  more  said  about  it  in  the 
Scriptures  than  on  all  these  subjects  combined. 
Few  of  the  Disciples,  however,  agree  with  me, 
although  it  is  solemnly  said :  "  Unto  them  that 
look  for  Him  shall  He  appear  the  second  time 
without  sin  unto  salvation,"  but  do  I  think  them 
any  less  Christian  because  they  do  not  agree 
with  me  on  the  second  advent  of  Christ  ?  Cer- 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  31 

tainly  not.  I  believe  that  baptism  of  a  penitent 
believer  by  immersion  into  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  the 
only  apostolic  practice  of  baptism  according  to 
the  New  Testament.  I  believe  that  every  believer 
ought  to  be  so  baptized,  for  it  is  frankly  said : 
"  We  are  buried  with  Him  by  baptism  into  death : 
that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by 
the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should 
walk  in  newness  of  life.  For  if  we  have  been 
planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  His  death, 
we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  His  resur- 
rection." However,  many  of  my  pedo-baptist 
brethren  honestly  differ  with  me  on  this,  but  do 
I  think  them  any  less  Christian  ?  Certainly  not, 
for  if  they  saw  it  as  I  do,  they  would  do  it  too 
and  even  more,  for  it  may  be  as  truly  said  of 
them  as  Paul  said  of  the  Roman  Christians  that 
their  "  faith  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole 
world." 

But  as  a  union  basis,  and  it  is  that  with  which 
this  message  is  concerned,  the  immersionists  have 
the  better  position  from  the  single  fact  that  their 
baptism  is  universally  accepted  by  pedo-baptists, 
while  the  baptism  of  the  pedo-baptists  is  ac- 
cepted mainly  by  their  own  household.  At  the 
same  time,  the  pedo-baptists  are  in  a  better 
position  to  lessen  the  friction  on  baptism  than 
the  immersionists.  A  few  immersionist  Churches 
here  and  there  receive  the  unimmersed  and  the 


32    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

number  will  increase,  but  not  nearly  so  difficult 
is  the  case  with  pedo-baptist  Churches,  for  believ- 
ing as  they  do  that  immersion,  pouring  and 
sprinkling  are  all  valid  modes  of  baptism,  they 
will  become  as  fair  to  immersion  as  they  are  to 
affusion  and  will  put  both  baptisteries  as  well  as 
fonts  in  their  Churches.  This  will  not  be  sur- 
rendering any  conviction,  such  as  theimmersionist 
Churches  would  have  to  do  to  receive  the  unim- 
mersed,  but  it  will  be  keeping  faith  with  the 
credal  statements  of  pedo-baptists  and  with  their 
common  declaration  that  all  three  modes  of  bap- 
tism are  valid.  It  would  not  only  lessen  the 
hostility  of  pedo-baptists  against  immersion,  but 
would  lessen  the  immersionists'  hostility  against 
pedo-baptist  communions  and,  best  of  all,  it 
would  prevent  the  annual  exodus  from  pedo- 
baptist  communions  for  this  sole  purpose  to  those 
communions  that  practice  baptism  by  immersion 
only,  which  is  a  condition  that,  think  as  you 
please,  has  contributed  tremendously  to  sectari- 
anism. The  Moody  Church  in  Chicago  and 
Christ  Church  in  London,  both  great  Churches 
of  the  Congregational  communion,  and  others 
have  done  this  and  use  freely  both  the  baptisteries 
and  fonts,  according  as  those  desiring  baptism 
understand  it,  and,  from  personal  investigation, 
I  am  able  to  say  that  this  broad  policy  has 
absolutely  removed  baptism  from  controversy  in 
those  Churches,  but  I  would  not  have  you  to 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  33 

understand  that  the  acceptance  of  baptism  by 
immersion  alone  would  bring  Christian  union, 
for  those  bodies  that  practice  immersion  are  no 
closer  together  than  other  communions,  neither 
have  they  been  able  by  the  common  practice  of 
immersion  to  hold  their  own  communions  united. 

No,  baptism  is  not  the  crux  of  Christian  union, 
but  it  is  a  Scriptural  and  delicate  subject  in  the 
realm  of  formal  Christianity  that  must  be  handled 
frankly  and  courteously,  for  the  practice  of  the 
Greek  Church  is  on  one  side  and  the  Roman 
Catholics  on  the  other,  while  the  Protestants  are 
divided  over  it,  and  to  say  the  least  a  common 
baptism  would  certainly  reduce  friction  at  that 
point. 

Neither  must  it  be  understood  that  a  common 
name  alone  would  unite  the  Church.  It  would 
greatly  help,  and  especially  if  that  name  were 
Scriptural  rather  than  denominational,  but  history 
has  shown  that  divisions  have  been  precipitated 
in  spite  of  common  names.  As  divinely  tender 
and  expressive  as  are  the  names  Christian  or 
Disciple  of  Christ,  neither  can  be  defined  out  of 
conformity  to  some  doctrinal  formulae.  Like  the 
roots  of  these,  each  stands  for  a  life,  and  their 
definition  is  found  only  in  the  lives  of  those  whose 
love  and  catholicity  lead  them  to  give  themselves 
to  others,  to  suffer  with  another,  to  be  a  crutch  to 
the  stumbling  and  all  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
whose  friendship  is  offered  to  every  living  soul. 


34    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Nor  would  a  short  credal  statement  alone  accom- 
plish it,  however  short  the  statement,  even  though 
it  be  as  brief  as  Peter's  confession  or  as  beautiful 
as  the  so-called  Apostles'  Creed,  for  divisions  have 
flourished  under  the  rule  of  all  creeds,  short  and 
long,  written  and  unwritten.  All  of  these  will 
help,  but  no  one  will  do  it,  and  those  who  think 
that  Christian  union  hinges  alone  upon  any  one  of 
these  outward  ordinances  or  formulae  have  not 
sounded  the  depths  of  this  divine  and  universal 
problem.  Neither  will  the  combining  of  immer- 
sion of  penitent  believers,  a  Scriptural  name  for 
believers  and  a  Scriptural  statement  of  faith  lead 
to  the  conquest  of  the  world. 

Truth  alone  will  not  fulfill  the  program  of 
Christ,  but  truth  and  union  combined  form  a  link 
with  the  Cross  and  the  broken  tomb  that  be- 
comes an  irresistible  force  before  which  a  pagan 
and  unbelieving  world  will  be  convicted  "  in 
respect  of  sin  and  of  righteousness  and  of  judg- 
ment." Neither  union  alone  nor  truth  alone  is 
sufficient ;  but  combined,  the  Holy  Spirit's  grief 
will  be  assuaged  and  the  power  of  God  will  be- 
come omnipotent  in  the  lives  of  a  ruined  race, 
lifting  it  out  of  the  sloughs  of  unfaith  into  the 
widening  vision  of  a  universal  triumph. 

To  the  Disciples,  no  other  task  holds  priority. 
A  united  Church  by  the  way  of  Christ  is  the 
only  pathway  that  flings  its  lines  of  absolute 
victory  among  all  tongues  and  peoples.    To  an- 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  35 

swer  that  this  one  or  that  of  the  nine  conclusions 
named  in  this  lecture  is  of  secondary  importance 
does  not  satisfy  the  conditions,  for  in  the  eyes  of 
the  whole  Christian  world,  each  of  these  is  of  so 
great  importance  that  where  one  dissents  he  is 
slow  to  yield  his  traditional  practice  to  a  well 
recognized  Scriptural  position,  as  for  instance  in 
the  names  of  believers.  Christians,  Disciples  of 
Christ,  Friends  and  Brethren  are  far  superior 
designations  than  the  multiplicity  of  denomina- 
tional names,  some  of  which  are  still  as  belittling 
as  the  "  Button  Party  "  or  the  "  Hook  and  Eye 
Party  "  in  the  early  history  of  the  Anabaptists. 

Converts  in  pagan  lands  are  making  such 
loud  protests  against  the  transplanting  into  their 
countries  of  these  divisions  with  their  divisive 
names  that  they  have  gone  beyond  the  mission- 
aries and  have  affirmed  that  there  is  no  place  in 
their  countries  for  the  divisions  of  European  and 
American  Christianity,  and  so  Japan  has  written 
over  and  above  every  denominational  name  the 
"  United  Church  of  Christ,"  as  has  India  and 
other  lands.  There  is  no  escape  from  the  aboli- 
tion of  everything,  be  it  little  or  great,  that  has 
hindered  the  unity  of  believers.  Christ  must 
triumph  in  His  Church  before  He  triumphs  over 
the  world. 

The  results  of  the  Disciples'  research  is  largely 
an  attempt  to  disentangle  the  plan  of  salvation, 
around  which  has  been  so  much  controversy, 


36    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

that  all  men  might  see  its  simplicity  and  find 
pardon  and  peace  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Alexander  Campbell's  great  contribution  to 
Christendom  was  disentangling  the  facts  re- 
garding salvation  from  theology,  although  not 
necessarily  severing  them.  It  is  only  the  begin- 
ning, for  the  heights  are  beyond.  You  may  take 
faith,  repentance  and  baptism,  in  their  Scrip- 
tural order  as  they  appear  to  us,  but  if  you 
linger  there,  you  will  become  legalists,  just  as 
emphasizing  above  everything  else  the  moral 
teachings  of  Jesus  would  lead  you  into  an  ethical 
cult,  or  emphasizing  above  everything  else  the 
worship  of  Jesus,  beautiful  and  stainless  as  it 
was,  would  lead  into  the  coldness  of  formalism. 

All  these  have  their  places,  but  they  are  only 
streamlets  from  the  fountain.  The  fact  that  the 
heart  pants  for  something  beyond  these  is  an  un- 
answerable argument  that  religion  is  more  than 
any  one  of  these,  more  than  all  of  these  com- 
bined. These  are  only  helps  to  religion ;  and,  if 
we  make  them  doctrines  instead  of  living  faith 
and  genuine  piety,  we  misuse  them  and  our 
misuse  will  quickly  gather  about  it  the  flavour  of 
sectarianism. 

Christian  union  is  a  vaster  problem  than  doc- 
trines stated  even  in  Scriptural  language.  Our 
discoveries  are  but  the  portals  through  which  we 
pass  in  order  to  attain  the  heights.  Great  ob- 
stacles lie  in  our  way  towards  its  consummation — 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  37 

traditions  that  are  rooted  in  the  centuries  and 
that  are  as  old  as  Christian  schism  and  have 
around  them  the  reverence  and  affection  of  gen- 
erations, when  there  was  nothing  else  to  lean 
upon  because  the  Bible  was  either  taken  away  or 
covered  by  human  creeds.  These  traditions 
were  the  staffs  upon  which  leaned  a  stumbling 
race,  but  the  essential  thing  lies  beyond  tradi- 
tions and  formulae.  We  are  in  a  world  of  pathos 
and  tragedy  and  God  charges  us  to  live  in  the 
sphere  of  brotherhood,  for  there  is  a  spirituality 
in  the  divine  program  beyond  what  we  have 
now.  It  cannot  be  produced  in  strife  and  separa- 
tion. The  conscious  presence  of  God  is  the  nortnal 
height  of  the  soufs  attainment,  and  Christian 
union  is  the  pathway  by  which  we  will  attain 
unto  that  abiding  communion  with  the  Unseen, 
for  which  we  long  and  without  which  we  shall 
never  be  satisfied. 

Jesus  came  to  blaze  the  way  to  the  holiness  of 
His  inner  sanctuary.  There  must  be  harmony  or 
the  music  cannot  be  at  its  best.  The  discords  of 
Christendom  have  drowned  the  finest  strains  of 
music  in  the  human  soul  and  the  Disciples  have 
attempted  to  clear  the  dust  from  the  pages  of  the 
Scriptures  that  the  chords  of  the  human  heart 
may  again  vibrate  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
heart  of  Christ,  who  is  the  only  solution  to  dis- 
cord in  His  divided  house.  If  we  have  failed  in 
this  stupendous  task,  and  God  knows  that  many 


38    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

of  us  have,  charge  it  not  to  our  discoveries,  for 
they  are  Scriptural  and  must  remain,  but  charge 
it  to  our  human  weakness  of  broken  vision  and 
stumbling  faith. 

III 

Holding  to  the  results  of  our  research,  to  us 
there  appear  three  necessary  advances  among 
all  Christians  that  have  priority  over  everything 
else  and  without  which  we  are  incompetent  to 
even  discuss  the  basis  for  the  union  of  the  Church 
of  Christ.    These  are  :  (i)  a  larger  fellowship, 

(2)  a  sincere  defense  of  each  other's  cause,  and 

(3)  side  by  side  prayer  to  each  other's  God  for 
equal  blessings  upon  the  whole  family  of  faith. 
Then  the  Bible  will  open  its  yet  hidden  secrets  ; 
no  one  of  us  will  conquer  the  other ;  but  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  conquer  us  all  and  His  ministry  will 
be  made  glorious  by  our  genuine  penitence  and 
deepened  consecration  to  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

First :  The  days  of  polemics  have  passed.  Ex- 
communications on  hair-splitting  interpretations 
belong  by  the  side  of  witch  burnings.  It  would 
be  a  poor  world  if  every  man  interpreted  every- 
thing exactly  like  the  rest  of  men.  Poetry, 
music,  painting,  flowers,  trees,  landscapes — all 
would  be  gone.  Individuality  would  be  lost 
and  the  wreck  of  the  world  would  be  greater 
than  the  Fall  in  Eden.  Our  task  is  to  maintain 
fellowship  with  all  Christians,  as  far  as  they  will 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  39 

let  us,  irrespective  of  their  differences.  Burke's 
conception  of  society  was  that  it  is  a  partnership 
in  all  science,  in  all  art,  in  every  virtue  and  in 
all  perfection.  Said  he  :  '*  As  the  end  of  such  a 
partnership  cannot  be  obtained  in  many  gener- 
ations, it  becomes  a  partnership  not  only  between 
those  who  are  living,  but  between  those  who  are 
living,  those  who  are  dead  and  those  who  are 
to  be  born."  If  this  is  the  high  ideal  of  society 
in  the  conception  of  that  brilliant  Englishman, 
how  can  it  be  attained  without  the  leadership 
of  the  Church  and  that  Church  a  united  flock  ? 
Therefore,  the  first  step  towards  the  union  of 
Christendom  is  to  find  the  social  basis. 

We  quote  the  words  of  Francis  of  Assisi,  Ber- 
nard, Savonarola,  Richard  Baxter,  Jeremy 
Taylor,  John  Wesley  and  other  saints,  and  yet 
if  any  of  these  were  to  appear,  some  in  their 
mendicant  robes  and  all  of  different  communions, 
how  many  Protestant  pulpits  would  be  open  to 
them  and  at  how  many  communion  tables  could 
they  sit  with  freedom  ?  Thank  God,  they  are 
dead,  but  the  fellowship  that  we  have  with  their 
great  souls  is  an  impulsive  force  moving  us  into 
a  larger  fellowship  with  the  living  saints  of  the 
earth  and  the  unborn  multitudes  that  shall  give 
unstinted  praise  to  our  Lord.  The  call  of  Christ 
is  to  think  in  the  sphere  of  the  universal.  To 
be  as  catholic  as  His  Gospel  and  to  carry  a  con- 
cern for  others  as  wide  as  the  love  of  God  to  men. 


40    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Truth  has  nothing  to  fear  in  mingling  with 
unbeUevers,  much  less  with  believers.  It  is  the 
divine  method  of  its  transmission  and  it  mingles 
better  in  human  flesh  than  books.  Jesus  went 
Himself  among  the  people  and  left  no  commen- 
taries, but  left  His  life,  and  the  spirit  of  a  mes- 
sage is  seen  in  the  conduct  of  its  adherents  far 
more  than  in  its  theological  statements.  Uni- 
versal fellowship  with  the  saints  is  the  model  of 
God,  while  exclusiveness  is  the  den  of  provin- 
cialism and  sectarianism.  It  cannot  be  true  that 
associating  with  other  communions  destroys  the 
truth  of  another.  It  may  destroy  its  narrowness 
and  shame  its  sectarianism,  but  to  its  truth  it 
gives  vision  and  vitality.  He  who  has  convic- 
tions can  mingle  with  all  Christians  and  retain 
those  convictions  as  certainly  as,  mingling  with 
the  thousands  on  the  streets,  he  keeps  his  indi- 
vidual name.  The  scourge  of  a  message — that  of 
the  Disciples  or  any  others  that  has  in  it  the  call 
of  God — is  giving  to  it  a  contracted  horizon  and 
making  it  provincial.  It  is  the  violation  of  a 
divine  principle,  for  the  atmosphere  of  provin- 
cialism is  as  repulsive  as  the  musty  smell  of  an 
ill-ventilated  room. 

Superior  to  its  theology  is  the  social  power 
of  the  Church.  The  first  pagan  persecutions 
against  Christians  were  not  waged  against  the- 
ological tenets.  What  did  Roman  Caesars  care 
whether  the  Holy  Spirit  came  from  the  Father 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  41 

or  from  the  Son?  What  mattered  to  them 
whether  men  were  baptized  for  the  remission  of 
sins  or  whether  the  Lord's  Supper  was  the  real 
presence  or  a  spiritual  memorial  ?  That  which 
filled  them  with  alarm  was  the  social  bond  of 
Christians,  their  secret  meetings  and  their  one- 
ness of  life. 

The  divided  Church  destroyed  this  and  society 
to-day  is  organizing  itself  on  a  non-religious 
basis  because  the  Church  refuses  to  take  the 
lead  and  give  a  fellowship  to  the  broken  race 
like  that  for  which  it  craves.  Christian  theolog}'^ 
is  merely  incidental  as  compared  with  this 
greater  demand.  Farrar  said  :  *'  If  you  do  not 
love  your  brother,  however  tremendous  the 
truths  which  you  utter  with  your  lips,  your 
Christianity  is  heathendom,  and  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  not  within  you  ...  a  religion 
which  thinks  to  please  God  either  by  orthodox 
formulae  or  ceremonial  observances  without 
charity  is  no  better  than  blasphemy.  The  throne 
of  Christ  can  only  be  set  up  in  the  heart  of  man, 
not  in  his  actions ;  in  the  life  of  man,  not  upon 
his  lips."  Paul,  writing  to  the  Thessalonians, 
said  :  "  As  touching  brotherly  love  ye  need  not 
that  I  write  unto  you;  for  ye  yourselves  are 
taught  of  God  to  love  one  another  " — not  merely 
those  of  one  communion  loving  among  them- 
selves, but  those  of  one  communion  loving  those 
of  another  communion. 


42    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Sin  deadened  the  sense  of  love  and  Christ 
came  to  revive  it,  but  sin  divided  the  Church  that 
love  might  be  hindered  from  rising  to  her  divine 
service  in  fulfilling  the  program  of  God,  but 
Christ  will  nevertheless  get  the  throne  of  univer- 
sal affection  and  "reign,  till  He  hath  put  all 
enemies  under  His  feet."  His  victory  must  come 
by  the  way  of  the  universal  fellowship  of  the 
saints.  Discord  hinders  now,  and  one  who  be- 
lieves in  the  real  presence  in  the  communion 
cannot  worship  with  one  who  believes  it  to  be 
only  a  spiritual  memorial,  one  who  believes  in 
extemporaneous  prayers  cannot  worship  with 
one  who  reads  his  prayers,  one  who  wears  one 
denominational  name  cannot  worship  with  one 
who  wears  another  denominational  name.  For- 
give me  if  you  care  to,  but  I  tell  you  now,  I  tell 
you  plainly  it  is  all  the  dry-rot  of  sectarianism. 
I  speak  not  out  of  theory,  for  I  have  sat  with 
Christians  of  all  communions  and  experienced 
the  peace  of  God,  but  more,  I  have  knelt  at  the 
altar  with  nearly  all  communions  in  partaking  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  I  felt  the  sweetness  and 
the  power  of  its  observance  as  much  as  when 
ministering  at  the  altar  in  my  own  Church. 

Second  :  The  defense  of  another's  cause  ante- 
dates Christianity  and  is  a  necessary  part  in  the 
consummation  of  the  good.  I  do  not  mean  to 
defend  denominationalism — not  one  word  in  its 
defense,  nor  any  subterfuge  to  seek  to  atone  for 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  43 

divisions  by  pointing  to  the  good  that  each 
denomination  has  done,  for  all  the  good  done  by 
the  divided  Church  was  in  spite  of  its  divisions. 
A  united  Church  would  have  lifted  the  race  to 
greater  heights  and  made  wider  conquests. 
Neither  do  I  mean  to  defend  any  doctrine  or 
practice  that  another  believes  is  unscriptural. 
No,  not  for  a  moment ;  but  we  have  tried  polemics, 
we  have  maintained  suspicious  attitudes,  we  have 
stamped  one  communion  and  another  as  not  in 
our  fellowship  because  of  practices  that  appear  to 
us  as  unscriptural,  we  have  pointed  out  the  weak- 
ness of  other  communions,  we  have  put  our  finger 
on  their  dark  spots  and  we  are  still  divided. 

Now  let  us  try  the  rule  of  Christ.  I  think  that 
I  may  say  here  with  Lessing  :  "  Christianity  has 
been  tried  for  eighteen  centuries,  while  the  re- 
ligion of  Christ  has  yet  to  be  tried."  He  had 
confidence  in  men,  although  they  killed  Him  and 
tried  to  keep  Him  from  rising  from  the  dead, 
still  He  had  confidence  in  them,  and  that  has 
made  for  Him  conquest  of  millions.  The  same 
rule  is  here  to-day.  Paul  put  it  in  the  concrete  : 
"  Look  not  every  man  on  his  own  things,  but 
every  man  also  on  the  things  of  others."  It  is 
very  simple.  Do  not  look  all  the  time  on  what 
your  communion  is  doing.  Look  on  what  other 
communions  are  doing.  Be  interested  in  their 
progress  as  you  are  interested  in  the  progress  of 
your  own. 


44    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

One  may  not  endorse  all  the  practices  of  a 
member  in  his  own  communion,  but  if  that 
member  is  attacked  or  misrepresented,  see  how 
kindly  he  looks  upon  what  that  member  has 
done  and  see  how  quickly  he  goes  to  his  de- 
fense. He  offers  himself  as  a  fortress.  The 
same  spirit  must  be  exercised  by  Christians 
towards  persons  of  every  communion,  for  there 
is  none  of  these  communions  but  that  holds  to 
such  vital  principles  and  that  has  done  such  sac- 
rificing service  for  Christ,  that  any  Christian 
who  cares  at  all  for  the  common  good  can  find 
enough  to  cause  him  to  throw  himself  as  a  de- 
fense against  any  attacks  or  misrepresentations 
as  though  it  were  his  own  communion.  In  this 
way  denominational  friendships  are  formed  and 
progress  marked  beyond  any  other  plan,  for  it 
is  the  rule  of  Christ  and  weakens  denomination- 
alism,  while  to  do  otherwise  is  sectarianism  and 
hardens  the  walls  of  separation.  This  does  not 
close  friendly  controversy  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  disarms  bitterness  and  opens  the  way 
to  friendly  comparison  of  differences,  by  which 
peace  is  far  more  likely  to  be  attained  than  by 
any  other  course.  It  gives  a  new  meaning  to 
the  ninth  commandment,  which  has  been  so  con- 
stantly and  inexcusably  abused  by  Christians  in 
their  bearing  false  witness  against  other  com- 
munions and  attempting  to  justify  their  own. 

I  sometimes  wonder  whether  the  harm  done 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  45 

by  our  denominational  literature  is  not  far  in  ex- 
cess of  the  good  that  it  accomplishes.  I  doubt 
if  there  is  any  other  one  thing  that  is  so  great  a 
hindrance  to  the  union  of  Christendom.  If  not 
bigoted  and  selfish,  it  is,  to  say  the  least,  neces- 
sarily so  unfair.  It  narrows  the  horizon  of  be- 
lievers and  leads  those  of  that  communion  to 
think  that  theirs  is  the  only  religion  in  the  world, 
and  sometimes  it  may  be  as  appropriately  said  to 
them  as  Constantine  said  to  Acesius  to  go  and 
find  a  ladder  and  go  to  heaven  by  himself. 

Take  the  denominational  journals,  and  I  in- 
clude the  Disciples  as  well  as  others,  and  in  this 
respect  we  are  perhaps  sinners  above  many. 
The  denominational  journals,  with  very  rare  ex- 
ceptions, are  provincial,  pathetically  so  if  not 
sacrilegiously  so.  One  who  reads  the  literature 
of  no  other  communion  than  his  own  would 
think  that  the  chief  religious  work  being  done 
in  the  world  was  that  of  his  communion,  that  the 
leading  religious  forces  in  New  York,  London  or 
Tokio  were  confined  to  the  activities  of  that  com- 
munion. It  is  a  false  view  of  Christianity  and 
the  service  for  which  it  stands.  The  day  is 
dawning  when  denominational  journals  and  de- 
nominational colleges  shall  be  relegated  to  muse- 
ums by  the  side  of  fossils  of  bygone  ages,  and 
God  hasten  the  coming  of  that  day  !  Fifteen  cen- 
turies ago  Jerome  said:  "Christ  is^notsopoor 
as.  to  have  only  a  Church  in  Sardinia."  No. 


46    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Christ  is  not  so  poor  as  to  have  only  that  little 
centre  of  congregations  represented  by  some  one 
communion  in  this  city  or  that.  What,  has  He 
no  followers  among  the  Congregationalists, 
Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Episcopalians,  Luther- 
ans, Methodists,  Disciples  and  other  commu- 
nions in  those  cities  ?  They  are  all  His,  equally 
precious  in  His  sight,  and  He  waits  for  us  to  be 
brethren  among  ourselves,  in  order  that  the 
world  may  believe  that  He  has  been  sent  from 
the  Father.  Said  Fairbairn  :  "  That  man  who 
says,  '  There  is  a  God,  but  He  is  for  me  and  not 
for  you,'  is  a  worse  infidel  than  the  man  who 
says,  '  There  is  no  God.'  " 

Sectarianism  is  a  subtle  infidelity  that  is  un- 
consciously stealing  the  faith  of  the  Church. 
Neither  shibboleths  nor  anything  else,  causing 
one  Christian  to  be  separated  from  another,  will 
make  us  Christians.  "  These  shall  slip  away 
into  white  ashes  in  the  revealing  and  consuming 
flame,"  but  Christ  alone  is  the  soul's  Saviour,  and 
faith  in  Him  and  obedience  to  Him  is  the  sum 
and  substance  of  life — obedience  to  look  "  not 
every  man  on  his  own  things,  but  every  man 
also  on  the  things  of  others  " — others  who  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God.  This  rule  of  Christ  was  to  give  us  a  wide 
sky  and  make  us  to  see  that  others  are  strug- 
gling for  the  same  lofty  heights  that  we  are. 

Third :  A  side  by  side  work  for  saving  men  to 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  47 

Christ  is  a  practical  step  towards  Christian  union. 
On  the  foreign  mission  field,  Christians  are  closer 
together  than  in  ^the  home  land  and  would  be 
still  closer,  if  the  influence  of  the  home  land  was 
not  so  strong  in  keeping  them  apart.  Living- 
stone said :  "  All  classes  of  Christians  find  that 
sectarian  rancour  soon  dies  out,  when  they  are 
working  together  among  and  for  the  real 
heathen." 

But  it  is  the  side  by  side  upward  look  that  is 
of  double  force.  Theological  differences  are  for- 
gotten when  souls  are  really  burdened  before  the 
Throne  of  grace.  Christ  has  given  us  some- 
thing to  do,  and  who  cares  whether  the  Throne  is 
reached  through  the  petition  of  a  Baptist  or  a 
Presbyterian  or  an  Episcopalian  or  a  Disciple  ? 
He  must  have  been  a  Christian  or  Christ  would 
not  have  heard  him.  For  some  years  I  have 
been  reading  every  day  a  prayer  from  that  ex- 
quisite little  book — "Great  Souls  at  Prayer" — 
and  sometimes  it  is  Augustine  or  Rosetti  or 
Martineau  or  Pusey  or  Kempis  or  Stevenson  or 
Newman  or  Collyer  or  Matheson — and  a  prayer 
by  David  or  some  nameless  Hebrew  poet — I 
have  not  cared  from  whom,  but  they  were  souls 
that  found  the  altar,  and  out  of  their  thoughts  my 
approach  was  made  easier  and  we  were  fellows 
at  the  Throne  of  pardon  and  peace,  where  there 
is  known  no  sect  nor  party.  The  message  of 
the  Disciples  is  to  make  everywhere  the  altar 


48    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

of  God,  without  separation  or  discord  in  a  fellow- 
ship that  shall  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than 
a  conquered  world  for  a  conquering  Christ. 

If  the  Disciples  have  not  kept  faith  with  the 
practicing  of  these  three  fundamental  principles, 
it  is  not  only  to  our  discredit,  but  is  inexcusable 
indifference  to  the  principles  of  our  origin  and  a 
rude  rebuff  to  those  servants  whom  the  Lord  ap- 
pears to  have  called  to  proclaim  the  way  of  peace 
in  His  divided  house,  for  this  Restoration  move- 
ment arose  as  a  protest  against  strictures  on  the 
practice  of  a  larger  and  more  brotherly  fellow- 
ship. We  are  at  home  in  assemblies  of  Presby- 
terians, Baptists,  Episcopalians,  Congregation- 
alists,  Methodists,  Lutherans,  and  every  other 
communion  that  makes  for  its  corner-stone  the 
Sonship  and  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  for  they  all 
are  our  brethren.  Our  protest  is  against  break- 
ing the  fellowship  that  now  exists  and  our  appeal 
to  Christendom  is  to  deepen  the  love  in  the 
brotherhood  of  Christ  until  "  we  have  made  a 
bonfire  of  our  prejudices  and  fanned  it  with  the 
flame  of  our  sacrifices." 

The  message  of  the  Disciples  has  nothing  to 
do  with  theology  so  far  as  making  that  theology 
or  any  other  a  test  of  fellowship.  Its  message 
is  practical  rather  than  doctrinal.  It  looks  out 
from  under  the  prayer  of  Jesus  for  the  conquest 
of  the  world  for  Christ.  The  great  concern  in  His 
last  hours  on  earth  was  the  possible  schism  among 


The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  49 

His  followers,  dividing  them  into  separate  bodies. 
It  cast  a  shadow  over  His  prayer  along  with 
the  heavy  shadow  of  the  Cross.  The  fact  is  here 
and  now  and  gives  grief  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  It 
is  the  paramount  issue,  and  not  upon  the  Dis- 
ciples alone,  but  upon  all  Christians,  is  the  obli- 
gation to  lend  their  faith  and  love  and  prayers 
to  this  purpose.  These  principles  shine  like 
stars  in  the  sky  and  the  walls  of  separation  will 
go  down — I  know  not  when  nor  how — but  they 
will  go  down  as  sure  as  God  is  God. 

The  whole  world  of  thought  has  moved  into 
new  channels.  Years  ago,  it  was  believed  that 
the  earth  was  the  centre  of  the  universe.  "  Up" 
was  heaven  and  "  down  "  was  hell,  but  it  is  not 
so  to-day.  Up  at  one  hour  will  take  you  in  one 
direction  and  six  hours  later  will  take  you  in  a 
very  different  direction.  Copernicus  made  new 
paths  for  our  thinking,  for  now  it  is  proven  that 
the  sun  is  the  centre  of  the  solar  system  and  that 
there  are  other  worlds  far  greater  than  ours  that 
revolve  around  it,  while  our  orb  has  shrunk  into 
very  little  importance  in  that  vast  system. 

It  is  becoming  so  in  the  affairs  of  Christianity. 
Christ  and  Christ  alone  is  the  centre  and  sover- 
eign of  all  religion,  and  obedience  to  Him  and  to 
Him  alone  is  the  one  true  test  of  loyalty.  Others 
in  and  out  of  the  communion  of  the  Disciples 
have  caught  the  vision  as  Kepler,  Galileo 
and  Newton  elaborated  on  the  calculations  of 


50    The  Message  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Copernicus.  The  movement  is  Christward  and 
all  our  communions — yours  and  mine — will  grad- 
ually sink  in  importance  as  Christ  ascends  in 
conquest  over  us  and  the  world  for  which  He 
died,  until  it  shall  be  seen  that  He  is,  as  He  has 
always  been,  in  the  meridian.  "  Other  foundation 
can  no  man  lay  than  that  which  is  laid,  which  is 
Jesus  Christ."  "  Unto  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the 
Throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb,  be  the  blessing,  and 
the  honour,  and  the  glory,  and  the  dominion,  for 
ever  and  ever."  Amen. 


Oh,  Thou  Father  of  love,  permit  us  to  join  Thy 
league  of  pity.  Then  let  us  be  ministers  to  each 
other  irrespective  of  our  creeds  or  communions. 
We  need  their  ministry  ;  they  need  ours ;  and 
Thou  art  needing  our  combined  ministries  for  the 
conquest  of  the  world.  Send  us,  O  Lord,  into 
closer  fellowship  with  our  brothers  of  other  folds. 
Scourge  all  vainglory  and  bigotry  out  of  our 
hearts  and  make  us  the  true  lovers  of  all  who 
love  Thee.  Set  us  to  be  real  helpers  in  the  con- 
summation of  all  Thy  program  and  grant  that 
we  may  hear  our  souls  saying,  "  Not  my  will,  but 
Thine,  be  done  " — and  saying  it  so  loud  that  all 
our  conduct  shall  be  regulated  by  our  soul's 
inner  cry.  Then  we  shall  feel  in  our  hearts  that 
the  league  of  pity  is  the  great  fellowship  of  God, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  DISCIPLES  OF 
CHRIST 

LECTURE  TWO 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 


MONG  all  the  facts  of  human  history, 


Christianity  stands  alone  in  its  incom- 


X  JL  parable  strength  and  fadeless  beauty. 
It  is  the  life  of  God  in  the  souls  of  men.  Other 
religions  have  come  and  either  are  gone  or  are 
going.  The  memory  of  Osiris  and  Isis  lingers 
only  amid  the  tombstones  of  a  dead  empire. 
The  divinity  of  Jupiter,  Mars  and  Venus  has 
crumbled  like  the  ruins  of  their  long  ago  deserted 
temples  and  their  names  astronomers  have  given 
to  the  stars.  Buddhism,  Brahmanism,  Parsee- 
ism  and  Mohammedanism,  although  still  exer- 
cising powerful  influences  upon  the  heathen 
nations,  are  slowly  decaying  and  the  Tripitaka, 
the  Vedas,  the  Avesta  and  the  Koran  are  the 
sacred  books  of  dying  faiths.  These  ethnic  re- 
ligions and  those  akin  to  them  are  the  dim  and 
flickering  lamps  lighted  at  God's  altar,  but  Chris- 
tianity is  the  one  lamp  of  God  that  burns  unto  the 
perfect  day. 

Its  source  is  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  greatest 
fact  of  history  and  the  New  Testament  is  dis- 
tinctly His  book.  The  Gospels  are  the  records 
of  His  life,  including  the  fulfillment  of  the  Old 


53 


54    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Testament  prophecies  concerning  Him.  The 
Acts  is  the  history  of  the  first  thirty  years  of  His 
Church.  The  Epistles  contain  the  philosophy  of 
His  religion  and  the  Apocalypse  is  the  prophecy 
of  its  triumph. 

Reaching  back  through  nineteen  hundred 
years,  Christianity  presents  a  ^fascinating  but 
sometimes  disheartening  history,  which  is  marked 
by  faith  and  sacrifice,  heroism  and  conquest,  dis- 
cord and  division,  defeat  and  failure,  holiness 
and  prayer,  freedom  and  progress,  ignorance 
and  prejudice,  surprises  and  paradoxes,  friend- 
ship and  service,  vision  and  hope — a  history  like 
that  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  which,  in  spite 
of  the  imperfect  and  unworthy  material,  reveals 
the  production  of  a  nobility  of  character,  which 
was  unknown  until  after  the  time  of  Christ,  and 
which  now  stands  in  the  history  of  the  world  like 
a  chain  of  mountains  across  a  continent.  The 
Church  of  the  apostles,  like  the  Church  of  the 
twentieth  century,  had  its  defects  and  problems. 
Christianity  is  a  world  task  and  the  transforming 
of  mankind  out  of  the  wreck  of  countless  years 
into  the  likeness  of  Christ  cannot  be  accom- 
plished in  a  decade  or  a  century,  any  more  than 
seeds  planted  in  a  night  will  grow  into  giant 
trees  in  the  light  of  a  single  day.  The  redemp- 
tion of  the  world  has  heaven  and  earth  back  of 
it  and  the  throb  beats  of  God  are  now  felt  in  the 
bosom  of  all  nations  as  never  before. 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  55 


I 

Movements  and  counter-movements  have 
arisen  in  the  pale  of  Christianity  and  have  taken 
their  courses  Hke  currents  in  the  sea,  while  the 
mighty  tides  for  the  world's  redemption  are 
steadily  moving  up  to  the  Throne  of  God.  Any 
one  of  these  movements  is  a  history  in  itself. 
Their  leaders  were  noble  souls,  for  no  one  calls 
another  to  holiness  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
but  he  may  be  enrolled  among  the  saints  and 
before  his  memory  we  pay  our  offering  at  the 
altar  of  human  affection  and  stand  in  the  shadow 
of  that  memory  with  unsandalled  feet.  It  is  per- 
tinent to  inquire  into  the  origin  of  these  move- 
ments, and  this  lecture  is  an  inquiry  into  the 
origin  of  the  Christian  union  movement  of  the 
nineteenth  century  known  as  the  Restoration 
movement,  whose  advocates  called  themselves 
Disciples  of  Christ  or  Christians,  and  whose 
Churches  are  known  as  Christian  Churches,  or 
Churches  of  Christ,  and  occasionally  Churches 
of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  and  rarely  Disciples' 
Church. 

All  movements  have  their  antecedents,  as  nat- 
urally as  back  of  flower  blossoms  are  seeds. 
Ideas  like  all  living  things  grow.  They  have 
their  antecedents  and  their  blossoms  in  full 
bloom  Pythagoras  was  the  forerunner  of  Co- 
pernicus, while  the  maturity  of  the  Copernican 
idea  belongs  to  Kepler,  Galileo  and  Newton. 


56    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Cimabue  and  Giotto  were  the  pioneers  in  art 
and  made  possible  the  achievements  of  Raphael, 
Michelangelo  and  others  who  put  their  impres- 
sions of  religion  and  history  on  canvas  and  in 
marble.  So  of  Palladio.  He  was  the  forerun- 
ner of  all  modern  architecture.  Before  Luther, 
Zwingli  and  Calvin  were  Wyclif,  Huss  and 
Savonarola.  The  antecedents  of  the  Camp- 
bells were  not  only  the  Reformers  of  the  six- 
teenth century  and  their  successors,  and  the 
Waldenses  .before  them  all,  but  especially  Ca- 
lixtus,  Grotius,  Coccejus,  Baxter,  Locke  and  all 
those  who  yearned  for  the  union  of  the  house  of 
God.  For  more  than  a  century  in  Europe,  as 
well  as  for  a  less  period  in  America,  indications 
directly  foreshadowed  the  movement  of  the 
Disciples  of  Christ.  The  symptoms  were  felt 
by  the  far  visioned  on  both  continents  and 
the  culmination  into  a  distinct  movement  for 
the  union  of  Christendom  was  as  natural  as 
a  flower  bursting  its  calyx.  Its  research 
opens  a  most  interesting  and  fascinating  field 
of  study. 

Christianity  started  from  Jesus  Christ — not 
from  theories  about  Him,  but  from  the  fact  of 
Him.  Out  of  His  Sonship  and  Messiahship,  He 
said  to  Peter :  "  Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  My 
Church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it."  He  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega, 
and,  for  salvation,  the  heart  must  link  itself  to 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  57 

Him  by  living  faith,  for  there  is  none  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby 
we  must  be  saved."  The  door  of  the  world's 
hope  had  been  flung  wide  open  and  the  Church 
was  established  upon  the  foundation  of  apostles 
and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the 
chief  corner-stone.  The  promise  had  been  ful- 
filled. The  Holy  Spirit  had  entered  upon  the 
divine  mission  of  convicting  men  of  sin  and  of 
righteousness  and  of  judgment,  and  sanctifying 
them  to  God  the  Father. 

It  was  a  dark  period  in  the  world's  history,  for 
unpunished  crime  was  the  aflair  of  every  day  in 
all  circles.  Both  pagan  priests  and  pagan  peo- 
ples were  corrupt.  Judaism  had  well-nigh  been 
wrecked  by  warring  sects,  while  Idumean  princes 
and  Roman  procurators  ruled  in  Jerusalem.  To 
the  casual  observer,  it  looked  as  though  all  paths 
had  been  wiped  out,  while  despair  had  grimly 
settled  upon  the  face  of  mankind.  In  the  midst 
of  this  gloom,  Christianity  lifts  the  clouds  and 
gives  to  the  lost  race  the  vision  of  hope.  The 
new  day  had  come  and  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
was  rising  with  healing  under  His  wings. 

But  the  progress  of  Christianity  was  by  no 
means  an  easy  advance.  The  world  had  cruci- 
fied Christ  and  it  now  contested  the  right  of  His 
religion  to  live.  The  Jews  sought  to  hush  the 
voice  of  Christian  faith  by  bitterly  denying  the 
testimony  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ.  Paganism 


58    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

drove  the  believers  to  martyrdom.  Celsus  and 
Porphyry  attempted  to  overthrow  Christianity 
by  the  brilliancy  of  their  philosophies  and,  while 
Julian  issued  no  formal  edict,  he  encouraged 
schism  and  strife  among  Christians,  pagan  as  he 
was  but  knowing  its  power  to  poison  every  good  ; 
and  further,  he  planned  to  smother  it  in  ignorance 
by  forbidding  Christians  to  teach  the  classics  or 
to  be  taught  them,  believing  that  Christianity 
could  not  exist  without  the  classic  basis,  but  the 
legendary  cry  of  Julian :  "  Thou,  O  Galilean, 
hast  conquered  after  all,"  was  true,  for  out  of 
every  conflict  Christianity  emerged  stronger  than 
ever,  so  that  only  a  few  years  before  TertuUian 
had  said  :  "  We  are  of  yesterday,  yet  we  have 
filled  your  empire,  your  cities,  your  islands,  your 
castles,  your  towns,  your  assemblies,  your  very 
camps,  your  tribes,  your  companies,  your  pal- 
aces, your  senate.  Your  forum  and  your  temples 
alone  are  left  you." 

Those  early  centuries  were  great  periods  in 
the  history  of  Christianity.  The  Old  Testament 
was  at  first  the  only  Bible  that  the  Christians  had. 
Then  gradually  came  the  New  Testament,  one 
book  at  a  time,  an  epistle  to  one  Church,  which 
was  passed  to  another,  then  another  epistle,  then 
a  biography  of  Jesus,  and  another,  until  the 
twenty-seven  books  were  written.  On  the  death 
of  the  last  apostle,  the  manuscripts  were  copied 
and  separately  passed  from  one  Church  to  another, 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  59 

as  among  the  richest  heritages  of  their  faith. 
Not  until  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century 
were  they  formally  combined  into  one  volume  as 
we  now  have  the  New  Testament ;  but  the 
Church  of  those  centuries,  with  all  its  defects, 
and  they  were  many,  was  close  to  the  apostles 
and  under  the  shadow  of  the  Cross.  Traditions 
were  passed  from  one  to  another  as  friends  tell 
their  heart  secrets  to  each  other,  while  an  unfet- 
tered faith  was  rapidly  transforming  the  classic 
students  of  Rome  and  Athens  into  disciples  of 
Jesus  and  the  uncouth  pagans  into  saints. 
Thousands  went  to  martyrdom  for  their  faith, 
while  other  thousands  told  the  story  of  Jesus  and 
the  resurrection  until  the  Church  had  set  up  her 
banners  in  all  parts  of  the  Roman  empire. 

The  leaders  in  those  days  were  no  ordinary 
men.  They  appear  to  have  been  divinely  set 
apart  as  the  real  princes  of  the  earth  and,  in  these 
latter  days,  all  the  divisions  of  Christendom  claim 
them  as  their  own.  Irenaeus,  Clement,  Origen 
and  Tertullian  belong  to  all  communions  whether 
Greek,  Roman  Catholic  or  Protestant.  From 
Augustine  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  got  its 
imperialism  and  mysticism,  while  Augustine  gave 
Luther  his  first  awakening  on  justification  by 
faith,  and  of  him  Luther  said  :  "  Next  after  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  no  teacher  in  the  Church  is  to 
be  compared  to  Augustine."  From  Augustine 
Calvin  got  his  doctrine  of  predestination.    It  is 


6o    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

true  that  none  of  these  fathers  were  members  of 
any  of  the  modern  communions,  because  no  one 
of  these  communions  then  existed,  but  now  all 
struggle  to  hold  in  their  fellowship  the  mighty 
souls  of  the  first  centuries  and  talk  about  them  as 
though  they  were  their  brothers,  as  indeed  they 
are.  However  widely  separated  we  may  be  from 
living  souls  by  different  creeds,  when  we  thread 
our  way  back  through  the  centuries,  all  our  lines 
lead  to  those  paths  of  the  first  centuries  wherein 
stand  the  same  great  personalities,  and  back  of 
all  is  Christ,  whose  we  are  and  whom  we  serve. 

Since  these  lines  converge  to  a  common  centre 
in  the  past  and  that  centre  was  Christ,  they  must 
be  God's  paths,  and  hence  they  must  likewise 
converge  to  a  common  centre  in  the  future  and 
that  centre  likewise  is  Christ,  who  "  shall  show 
who  is  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the  King 
of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords."  That  deflection, 
that  break  in  brotherhood,  that  multiplicity  of  de- 
nominations, that  hostility  among  Christians — all 
these,  along  with  every  other  sin,  shall  be  cured 
by  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ  who  alone  has  the 
cure  for  all  souls. 

In  the  shadow  of  His  passion,  when  the  very 
atmosphere  was  heavy  with  sympathetic  tears. 
He  prayed  :  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but 
for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on  Me  through 
their  word  ;  that  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  Thou, 
Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  6l 

may  be  one  in  Us ;  that  the  world  may  believe 
that  Thou  hast  sent  Me."  The  redemption  of 
the  world,  which  was  the  task  to  which  He  had 
given  His  life,  lay  in  the  path  of  a  united  dis- 
cipleship,  while  every  division  added  canker  to 
the  divine  escutcheon  and  tarnished  the  badge 
of  Christian  brotherhood.  Paul  saw  in  the  un- 
veiled bosom  of  Christ  the  program  of  His  con- 
quest and  so  he  wrote  to  the  Church  at  Ephesus  : 
"  Walk  worthily  of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are 
called,  with  all  lowliness  and  meekness,  with  long- 
suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love ;  en- 
deavouring to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace.  There  is  one  body,  and  one 
Spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your 
calling  ;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one 
God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and 
through  all,  and  in  you  all." 

As  deep  as  the  mystery  of  sin  is  the  mystery 
of  the  divided  Church.  Its  coming  seemed  as 
inevitable  as  the  Fall  of  man.  Departure  from 
apostolic  simplicity  and  practice,  incorporation 
of  pagan  customs  and  rites,  diversified  interpreta- 
tions of  the  Scriptures  and  traditions  and  the 
growth  of  worldliness  in  the  Church  brought 
about  conditions  that  broke  the  unity  of  the  flock 
of  God  and  henceforth  Church  history  deals  with 
separate  communions,  rather  than  with  a  united 
Church,  as  in  the  early  years. 

Although  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  the 


62    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

largest  Christian  communion  with  a  history  reach- 
ing back  to  the  eleventh  century,  if  we  count 
from  the  time  that  the  pope  was  excommunicated 
by  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  or  to  606, 
when  Boniface  was  called  the  "universal  father" 
by  the  Emperor  Phocas,  or  perhaps  to  440-461, 
in  the  time  of  Leo  I,  who  is  sometimes  called  the 
first  of  the  popes ;  nevertheless,  to  the  Greek 
Church  belongs  the  priority  as  being  the  oldest 
of  the  Christian  communions,  whose  origin,  like 
that  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  is  well-nigh  lost  in 
those  centuries  when  the  Church  began  her  de- 
parture from  apostolic  simplicity,  but  for  the  first 
two  hundred  years  Greek  was  the  prevailing 
tongue  of  the  Church,  even  in  Rome  itself. 

As  far  back  as  the  early  part  of  the  third  cen- 
tury, however,  the  Roman  primacy  came  into 
discussion,  against  which  Irenseus,  Origen  and 
the  whole  Eastern  Church  severely  protested, 
but  the  trend  in  religion,  like  that  of  the  govern- 
ment, was  towards  centralization.  Minor  sects 
arose  and  disappeared,  but  these  two  great 
movements — the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches 
— continued  to  advance  with  intense  hostility 
against  each  other,  until  1054,  when  the  absolute 
schism  occurred  by  the  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople excommunicating  the  pope,  whose  author- 
ity was  becoming  recognized  in  the  whole  West- 
ern Church,  and  to  even  up  matters,  the  pope 
excommunicated  the  patriarch,  so  that  both  com- 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  63 

munions  are  under  the  ban  of  excommunication. 
Henceforth,  they  are  known  in  history  as  the 
Greek  and  Roman  CathoHc  Churches. 

On  the  decadence  of  the  Roman  empire,  the 
Western  Church  arose  to  power,  and  for  centu- 
ries it  was  the  dominating  influence  in  Europe. 
Gregory  the  Great,  who  refused  the  title  of  pope, 
paved  the  way  for  the  culmination  of  complete 
union  of  Church  and  State,  with  the  papacy 
above  the  dignity  of  European  thrones.  Drunk 
with  the  love  of  power  and  wealth,  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  sank  into  anarchy  and  sin,  in 
the  midst  of  which  Bernard  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury exclaimed  :  "  Who  will  grant  me,  before  I 
die,  to  see  the  Church  of  God,  such  as  she  has 
been  in  the  primitive  times  ? "  Things  were 
stagnant  as  the  atmosphere  sometimes  is  before 
a  storm.  The  Western  Church  became  so  cor- 
rupt that  nothing  could  hold  up  the  falling  fabric 
except  a  long  desired  Reformation,  which  was 
led  by  Martin  Luther  outside  the  Church  and  by 
Ignatius  Loyola  within  the  Church,  both  con- 
scientious Christian  men,  contending  for  the 
right  as  they  saw  it.  Out  of  this  mighty  strug- 
gle, which  shook  all  Europe  like  an  earthquake, 
came  the  Protestant  Reformation  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  another  chapter  was  opened 
in  the  history  of  the  divisions  of  Christianity. 

In  the  principles  of  Protestantism,  which  are 
justification  by  faith,  the  sole  authority  of  the 


64    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Scriptures  and  the  right  of  private  interpretation, 
a  long  step  was  taken  towards  the  primitive 
Gospel.  Protestantism,  however,  was  too  close 
to  the  intolerance  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
to  fully  maintain  these  principles  and,  at  the 
Marburg  Conference  in  1529,  fourteen  and  a 
half  of  the  fifteen  propositions  were  accepted  by 
the  leaders  ;  but,  on  Zwingli  interpreting  "  hoc 
est  .  meum  corpus "  as  signifying  the  spiritual 
presence  and  not  the  literal  body,  which  was 
Luther's  interpretation,  Luther  refused  to  shake 
hands  with  him,  although  Zwingli  offered  to 
compromise,  but  Zwingli's  abruptness  of  manner 
and  giving  his  support  to  some  of  Luther's  ene- 
mies had  prepared  the  way  for  the  break.  Like- 
wise Luther  broke  fellowship  with  his  Anabap- 
tist followers,  Carlstadt  and  Munzer.  Calvin's 
intolerance  went  further  and,  like  James  and 
John,  who  wanted  to  call  down  fire  upon  the 
Samaritans,  his  theologic  hatred  of  opposition 
carried  him  so  far  as  to  send  Servetus  to  the 
stake  because  he  severely  differed  with  him.  In 
the  establishing  of  religious  peace  in  Germany 
in  1555.  tolerance  was  granted  to  the  Lutherans 
and  under  restricted  conditions  to  the  Roman 
Catholics,  but  no  toleration  was  granted  to  dis- 
senting Protestants. 

In  order  to  cope  with  the  system  of  dogmatic 
theology  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  Prot- 
estantism established  its  own  systems  of  dog- 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  65 

matic  theology  and  required  unstinted  loyalty  to 
its  tenets  by  all  who  sought  entrance  into  its 
different  fellowships.  In  denying  the  right  of 
private  interpretation,  which  is  one  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  Protestantism,  division  was 
precipitated  in  the  Protestant  household,  so  that 
instead  of  one  Protestant  Church,  there  were 
Lutheran,  Reformed,  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  Epis- 
copalian and  Congregational  communions  and, 
in  many  instances,  there  was  a  more  bitter  hos- 
tility between  these  than  against  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  a  period  of  bitter 
and  incessant  strife  in  religious  matters  and  for  a 
time  it  seemed  as  though  Protestantism  would 
destroy  itself  by  strife  and  multiplicity  of  divi- 
sion, for  most  of  the  larger  communions  were  di- 
viding and  subdividing  over  such  hair-splitting 
interpretations  and  trifling  questions  of  polity, 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  orator  Bossuet  ex- 
claimed :  "  Great  God  !  Is  it  possible  that,  upon 
the  same  matters  and  the  same  questions,  so 
many  multiplied  acts,  so  many  divisions  and 
different  confessions  of  faith  are  necessary  ? 
.  •  •  These  variations  fill  us  with  astonish- 
ment." In  his  two-volumed  work,  "  History  of 
the  Variations  of  Protestant  Churches,"  he  pre- 
dicted under  the  continuation  of  that  policy  a 
complete  disintegration  and  disappearance  of 
the  entire   Protestant  movement.    It  was  the 


66    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

identical  policy  by  which  Julian  thought  to  des- 
troy Christianity  in  the  fourth  century,  and  now 
the  amazement  was  that,  without  any  outside  in- 
stigation, Protestantism  had  itself  adopted  the 
policy  for  its  ruin.  It  was  a  critical  period  and 
deep  concern  filled  the  minds  of  Protestants. 

Zwingli  and  Melancthon,  both  of  irenic  spirit, 
appear  to  have  been  more  keenly  sensitive  to  the 
necessity  of  union  than  any  of  their  associates. 
Calvin,  however,  wrote  Cranmer  in  1553:  "I 
should  not  hesitate  to  cross  ten  seas,  if  by  this 
means  holy  communion  might  prevail  among  the 
members  of  Christ."  George  Calixtus,  professor 
in  the  university  of  Halmstadt  and  the  pioneer 
in  this  cause,  wrote  a  letter  in  gentleness  and 
love  to  the  Roman  Catholic  universities  of  Ger- 
many, pleading  for  the  things  that  make  for  peace. 
He  said  :  "  If  I  may  but  help  towards  the  healing 
of  our  schisms,  I  will  shrink  from  no  cares  and 
night  watchings,  no  efforts  and  no  dangers  .  .  . 
nay,  I  will  never  spare  either  my  hfe  nor  my 
blood,  if  so  be  I  may  purchase  the  peace  of  the 
Church."  To  him  the  summary  of  the  minimum, 
which  is  required  for  salvation,  is  expressed  in  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  and  on  that  basis  he  appealed 
to  the  divided  Church,  but  it  fell  on  deaf  ears, 
save  to  be  denounced  and  ridiculed. 

Hugo  Grotius  lent  his  great  intellect  to  an 
attempt  at  union  between  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants.   Leibnitz  and  Bossuet  conducted  a  lengthy 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  67 

correspondence  in  the  same  interest.  Failing  in 
this,  Leibnitz  turned  his  attention  to  a  reconcilia- 
tion between  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  com- 
munions, which  likewise  failed,  Dury's  scheme 
for  the  union  of  all  Protestants  by  the  abolition 
of  party  names  and  bitter  controversies  and  the 
establishment  of  national  Churches,  attracted 
some  attention,  but  the  death  of  his  chief  patron, 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  cut  it  short.  The  conference 
of  Thorn,  composed  of  twenty-seven  Roman 
Catholics,  thirty-seven  Lutherans  and  fifteen  from 
the  Reformed  Church,  presided  over  by  a  legate 
appointed  by  the  emperor,  assembled  in  great 
pomp  instead  of  much  prayer  and,  after  lasting 
for  months,  it  broke  up  in  scandal.  In  corre- 
spondence with  William  Wake,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  Dupin  proposed  as  a  basis  for  union 
between  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  Church  of 
England  the  abolition  of  auricular  confession,  re- 
ligious vows,  Lenten  fasts  and  abstinence,  pope's 
supremacy  and  celibacy  of  the  clergy  ;  he  also 
entered  into  negotiations  through  Peter  the  Great, 
while  that  sovereign  was  in  France,  with  a  similar 
plan  for  the  union  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
Catholic  Churches,  but  Pope  Clement  XI  severely 
censured  him  and  Louis  XIV  dismissed  him  from 
among  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne. 

While  these  things  were  transpiring  on  the 
continent,  similar  efforts  were  being  put  forth  in 
England  and  Scotland.    Among  the  chief  voices 


68    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

of  that  day  was  that  of  Richard  Baxter,  who 
preached  constantly  on  the  necessity  of  a  united 
Church  and  wrote  numerous  pamphlets  in  its 
behalf.  Said  he :  "  Unity  and  concord  is  the 
Church's  beauty.  It  makes  us  amiable  even  to 
the  eyes  of  nature  and  venerable  and  terrible 
even  to  the  eyes  of  malice.  .  .  .  The  concord 
of  believers  does  greatly  conduce  to  the  success 
of  the  ministry  and  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel 
and  the  conviction  and  salvation  of  ungodly 
souls."  Continuing  he  said :  "  When  Christ 
prayed  for  the  unity  of  His  disciples,  He  re- 
doubled His  argument  from  the  effect  or  end 
(that  the  world  may  believe  that  Thou  hast  sent 
Me  and  hath  loved  them).  Would  this  make  the 
world  believe  that  Christ  was  sent  of  God  ?  Yes, 
undoubtedly.  If  all  Christians  were  reduced  to  a 
holy  concord  it  would  do  more  to  win  the  heathen 
world  than  all  other  means  can  do  without  it." 

Other  issues,  however,  always  overshadowed 
in  importance  the  union  of  believers.  The  place 
of  doctrine  had  priority  over  Christian  life,  yet 
love  among  believers  is  as  fundamental  in  the 
religion  of  Jesus  as  faith  in  His  divinity.  Ed- 
ward Stillingfleet,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Worces- 
ter, wrote  his  "  Irenicum,"  in  which  he  sought  to 
express  the  prevailing  weariness  relative  to  the 
faction  between  episcopacy  and  Presbyterianism 
and  sought  to  find  some  compromise  on  which 
all  could  unite,  although  he  looked  upon  the  form 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  69 

of  Church  government  as  a  non-essential.  Said 
he :  "  For  the  Church  to  require  more  than  Christ 
Himself  did,  or  make  the  condition  of  her  com- 
munion more  than  our  Saviour  did  of  disciple- 
ship,  is  wholly  unwarranted."  In  1662  he  gave 
a  reprint  of  his  "  Irenicum  "  with  an  appendix,  in 
which  he  sought  to  prove  that  "  the  Church  is  a 
distinct  society  from  the  State  and  has  divers 
rights  and  privileges  of  its  own."  That  year  the 
Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed  and  Puritanism  was 
thrust  out  of  the  Church  of  England.  Stilling- 
fleet's  position  aided  many  of  the  ejected  minis- 
ters, and  John  Owen,  chief  among  the  Puritans  in 
his  day,  said :  "  Wherever  there  is  a  man  or  a 
body  of  men,  who  are  united  to  Him  by  a  living 
faith  and  are  keeping  His  commandments,  he  or 
they  are  in  communion  with  the  Church  of  God." 
With  prophet  vision  he  added :  "  When  God 
shall  accomplish  union  it  will  be  the  effect  of 
love  and  not  the  cause  of  love." 

Chillingworth  insisted  on  a  return  to  the  Bible 
and,  dying  in  prison  in  consequence  of  his  faith,  he 
said :  "Take  away  this  persecuting,  burning,  curs- 
ing, damning  of  men  for  not  subscribing  to  the 
words  of  men,  as  the  words  of  God  ;  require  of 
Christians  only  to  believe  in  Christ  and  to  call  no 
man  master  but  Him  only."  The  phrase  coined 
by  Rupertus  Meldinius  was  on  the  lips  of  many : 
"  In  essentials  unity  ;  in  non-essentials  liberty  ;  in 
all  things  charity."    John  Milton,  poet  and  states- 


70    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

man,  fearlessly  pleaded  for  the  restoration  of  New 
Testament  Christianity  as  the  only  cure  for  the 
divisions  of  Christendom.  Johannes  Coccejus, 
the  scholar  ;  John  Wesley,  the  reformer  ;  Jeremy 
Taylor,  the  preacher ;  John  Locke,  the  philoso- 
pher, and  others  were  pleading  for  the  recogni- 
tion of  brotherhood  among  Christians,  while  a 
belligerent  sectarianism  was  trying  to  strangle  it 
to  death. 

Systems  of  dogmatic  theology  having  failed  to 
furnish  a  basis  for  union,  two  opposite  movements 
arose  in  the  seventeenth  century,  both  seeking  to 
get  away  from  sectarianism  and  find  a  basis  of 
unity,  which  is  somewhere,  for  the  human  mind 
seeks  it.  The  first  was  a  series  of  mystical 
movements,  which  substituted  for  theological 
dogmatism  the  emotional  element  of  our  nature 
as  the  sole  criterion  of  religion.  Out  of  this 
reaction  came  the  Methodists,  the  Friends,  the 
Moravians,  and  other  kindred  movements  in 
both  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  com- 
munions, causing  a  general  revival  of  religion, 
and  leaving  the  names  of  John  Wesley,  George 
Whitefield,  Madam  Guyon,  Fenelon,  Fox  and 
Zinzendorf  among  their  leaders,  but  it  contributed 
little  to  the  solution  of  the  union  problem.  Wes- 
ley, however,  said :  "  Would  to  God  that  all  the 
party  names,  and  unscriptural  phrases  and 
forms,  which  have  divided  the  Christian  world, 
were  forgot ;  and  that  we  might  all  agree  to  sit 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ    7 1 

down  together,  as  humble,  loving  disciples  at 
the  feet  of  our  common  Master,  to  hear  His 
word,  to  imbibe  His  Spirit,  and  to  transcribe 
His  life  in  our  own." 

The  other  movement  had  to  do  with  the 
philosophy  of  Empiricism,  which,  excluding  the 
element  of  revelation,  and  affirming  that  all 
knowledge  is  derived  from  the  senses  or  the 
perception  of  simple  historical  fact,  sought 
through  the  universal  reason  of  mankind  to 
establish  a  universal  Christianity  and,  though  it 
ended  in  disaster,  it  served  to  break  up  condi- 
tions preparatory  to  the  reconstruction  of  thought. 

The  Campbells  faced  these  conditions  and 
awoke  to  the  defects  of  our  inner  artistry  and 
fearlessly  set  themselves  to  reducing  sectarian 
chaos  into  the  harmony  of  a  united  brotherhood. 
They  saw  the  disproportion  of  religion  in  one 
communion,  emphasizing  one  doctrine  as  though 
that  were  the  sum  of  Christianity  and  another 
communion  emphasizing  another  doctrine,  as 
though  it  were  the  sum  of  Christianity,  neces- 
sarily giving  the  preponderance  of  one  element 
in  one  communion  and  almost  the  entire  lack  of 
it  in  another,  while  all  communions  should  be 
equally  emphasizing  the  great  necessities  of  our 
common  faith,  if  human  life  would  be  propor- 
tioned after  the  model  of  Christ.  They  saw  that 
the  religion  that  is  to  survive  is  not  to  produce 
ecclesiastical    disproportionments,   but  is  dis- 


72    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

tinctly  the  reUgion  of  proportion,  according  to 
each  faculty  its  full  right,  so  they  proposed  for 
the  union  of  Christendom  neither  a  system  of 
dogmatic  theology,  nor  a  religion  of  pure  feel- 
ing, nor  a  philosophy  based  on  universal  reason ; 
but  to  luiite  tipo7i  the  fact  of  Christ — His  authority 
over  against  all  other  authorities  and  obedience 
to  His  terms  as  laid  down  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

They  did  not  propose  to  make  their  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible,  nor  any  other  interpretation  of 
the  Bible,  as  a  test  of  fellowship,  but  the  Bible 
was  to  be  taken  as  the  authority  for  what  Christ 
wanted  men  to  do  and,  having  decided  that,  the 
interpretation  of  the  facts,  as  for  instance  the  in- 
terpretation regarding  faith,  repentance  and  bap- 
tism, were  matters  of  private  judgment,  which 
belong  to  theology  and  consequently  have  no 
place  in  determining  Christian  fellowship. 

The  Campbells  had  pushed  their  way  to  the 
ultimate  conclusion  of  Protestantism,  which  was 
expressed  in  the  phrase  of  Chillingworth  :  "  The 
Bible  and  the  Bible  only  is  the  religion  of  Prot- 
estants." And  further,  in  this  proposition,  they 
presented  the  reconciliation  of  the  individual 
liberty  of  conscience  and  intellect  with  the 
solidarity  of  Christian  discipleship,  for  which 
Christ  prayed.  Up  through  the  storms  of 
centuries,  the  plant  had  come  and  in  the  open- 
ing of  the  nineteenth  century  it  bloomed  and  a 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  73 

new  chapter  for  the  union  of  Christendom  was 
opened  in  the  annals  of  American  Christianity 

II 

I  know  not  where  to  find  all  the  seeds  that 
have  flowered  in  this  garden,  for  nothing  is 
more  difficult  than  to  trace  the  origin  of  things, 
but  inasmuch  as  the  message  of  the  Disciples  of 
Christ  was  for  an  intelligent  understanding  of 
the  Scriptures,  freed  from  all  traditions  and 
superstitions,  the  Renaissance  became  one  of  its 
earliest  antecedents.  It  was  the  morning  of  the 
awakening.  It  made  possible  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury Reformation  and  gave  to  literature  and  art 
a  new  impetus,  so  that  untrammelled  genius 
made  its  offering  of  poetry  and  sculpture  and 
painting  at  the  altar  of  freedom.  All  life  felt  the 
influence  of  the  awakening  and  theological, 
philosophical  and  political  thoughts  changed 
their  channels  and  gradually  sought  adjustment 
to  a  larger  freedom.  Men  unconsciously  found 
themselves  in  new  conditions  and  bravely  sought 
for  paths,  the  prophecies  of  which  were  already 
beating  in  their  bosoms,  and  so  out  of  the 
Renaissance  came  an  intellectual  awakening  that 
flashed  its  beams  upon  souls  whose  passion  was 
being  turned  to  an  intelligent  harmonizing  of 
the  discord  in  the  divided  house  of  God. 

While  the  attention  of  all  Europe  was  being  at- 


74    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

tracted  to  the  Netherlands  by  Hugo  Grotius,  who 
was  laying-  the  foundation  of  the  new  science  of 
international  law,  and  by  Rembrandt,  whose 
original  style  of  painting  based  upon  a  strong 
perception  of  the  beauty  and  value  of  pure  light 
and  shade  in  nature  and  art,  reaching  its  climax 
in  the  wonderful  picture,  "The  Night  Watch," — 
while  these  brilliant  achievements  were  attracting 
the  admiration  of  Europe  to  the  Netherlands, 
Johannes  Coccejus,  the  pious  and  learned  pro- 
fessor in  the  university  of  Leyden,  was  making  the 
first  attempt  at  systematic.  Biblical  theology  and 
laying  down  new  rules  for  the  interpretation  of 
the  Scriptures,  by  which  he  came  to  be  called 

the  father  of  modern  exegesis."  The  restless- 
ness of  the  age  bespoke  a  desire  for  new  systems 
of  thought.  Over  against  the  Roman  Catholic 
proposition  of  saving  all,  irrespective  of  their 
condition,  who  at  the  time  of  their  death  are  in 
the  membership  of  that  Church,  Calvin  set  his 
dogma  of  predestination,  which  declared  that  the 
divine  decrees  are  eternal  and  unchangeable  and 
that  a  part  of  the  human  race,  without  any  merit 
of  their  own,  are  chosen  to  eternal  life,  and  the 
other  part,  as  just  punishment  for  their  sins,  are 
left  to  eternal  damnation. 

Many  movements  arose  seeking  the  mitigation 
of  this  harsh  doctrine,  the  negative  counterpart 
of  which  was  not  satisfactory  even  to  Calvin, 
but  he  affirmed  that  it  was  logically  true.  The 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  75 

most  formidable  revolt  was  led  by  James  Ar- 
minius,  professor  in  the  university  of  Leyden, 
who  advocated  universal  grace  and  freedom  of 
the  will,  but  Arminianism  was  after  all  a  modified 
predestination,  for  it  declared  that  God  has 
decreed  to  save  those  who,  by  the  grace  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  thereby  leav- 
ing the  sinner  to  importune  the  Spirit  for  action, 
but  it  showed  clearly  that  there  was  a  man-ward 
side  in  the  progress  of  salvation  and  the  doctrine 
spread  rapidly,  producing  great  effect  in  the  his- 
tory of  modern  ethics. 

Coccejus  broke  with  the  orthodox  custom  of 
his  time  in  reading  dogmas  into  texts  and  inter- 
preting Scripture  by  tradition,  allegory  and 
symbolism  and,  getting  his  ideas  from  the  Bible 
and  the  political  conditions  that  surrounded  him, 
he  proposed  the  historical  method  of  Bible  study, 
inquiring  into  the  circumstances  and  the  time  of 
writing  each  book  and  that  the  meaning  of  a 
word  be  ascertained  from  the  ordinary  sense  in 
connection  with  the  context ;  and  further,  that 
God's  dealing  with  man  has  been  a  development, 
marked  by  dispensations,  and  that  salvation  is  a 
covenant  between  God  and  man,  in  which  God 
and  man  cooperate  ;  God  being  the  Sovereign,  it 
is  His  part  to  present  the  terms  and  it  is  man's 
part  to  accept  on  his  own  free  will.  The  distinc- 
tion between  the  dispensations  was  the  key  to 
Scriptural  interpretation.     All  this  seems  very 


76    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

simple  to  us  now,  but  in  the  seventeenth  century  it 
was  nothing  less  than  revolutionary,  for  it  upset 
all  the  systems  of  dogmatic  theology  and  meant 
that  proof  texts  could  not  be  gotten  at  random 
from  any  part  of  the  Bible  to  enforce  Christian 
doctrines. 

At  first  it  was  kindly  received  due  to  the 
friendliness  it  showed  in  attempting  to  interpret 
some  of  the  Calvinistic  doctrines,  rather  than  op- 
posing them  and  too,  largely  to  the  irenic  nature 
of  the  adherents,  who  were  recognized  as  peace 
loving  men,  devoutly  seeking  to  harmonize  the 
various  schools  of  theology  and  thereby  find  a 
basis  for  union.  Hyperius,  Olevian,  Elgin  and 
others  were  pioneers  in  the  suggestion  and  fol- 
lowing Coccejus,  Burman,  Witsius  and  others 
elaborated  it,  especially  Witsius,  to  whom  ap- 
pears to  be  largely  due  its  spread.  When,  how- 
ever, it  became  fully  understood,  it  caused  a 
storm.  Schism  in  the  Reformed  Church  was 
averted  only  by  the  compromise  to  make  it  a 
school  of  theological  thought  and  Coccejus's 
works,  remaining  in  Latin,  became  known  only 
to  those  of  liberal  education.  The  doctrine 
spread,  however,  and  not  being  the  theology  of 
a  sect,  its  unconscious  influence  affected  the 
thought  of  many  in  all  communions. 

The  secession  from  the  Established  Church  of 
Scotland  in  1732,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Erskines,  included  in  its  theology  the  cardinal 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  77 

principles  of  the  covenant  theology  and  "  The 
Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity,"  by  Edward  Fisher 
and  "  The  Fourfold  State,"  by  Thomas  Boston, 
which  clearly  embodied  these  principles,  were 
among  the  most  popular  books  read  by  Seceders. 
The  Campbells  were  members  of  that  branch  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  and  lived  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  covenant  theology.  Thomas  was 
educated  at  one  of  the  Seceder  theological 
seminaries,  where  Herman  Witsius's  "  Economy 
of  the  Covenant  Between  God  and  Man  "  was  a 
text-book,  and  the  biographer  of  Alexander  tells 
us  that,  when  a  boy,  he  read  with  eagerness 
Boston's  "  Fourfold  State,'"  which  was  as  popular 
as  Bunyan's  '*  Pilgrim's  Progress  "  ;  besides  both 
father  and  son  were  men  of  wide  scholarship  and 
were  abreast  of  the  times  in  all  matters  regarding 
theology  and  philosophy. 

Differing  in  minor  points  with  Coccejus,  Alex- 
ander Campbell  made  lengthy  quotations  from 
him  in  his  publications,  and  whether  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  he  followed  the  leadership  of 
the  distinguished  Dutch  theologian  in  his  plan  of 
the  development,  recognizing  the  Patriarchal,  Jew- 
ish and  Christian  dispensations,  which  he  called 
the  starlight,  moonlight  and  sunlight  ages  of  the 
world.  His  famous  sermon  on  the  Law  was  a 
contrast  between  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
based  on  the'  dispensations  with  the  cleavage  at 
Christ,  rather  than  at  the  Fall,  as  Coccejus  put 


78    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

it,  and  he  argued  for  the  Christian's  freedom 
from  the  Old  Testament  law,  which  was  de- 
signed for  the  Jews  to  whom  it  had  been  given, 
and  the  Christian's  obligation  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  contains  the  words  of  Christ  for  the 
rule  of  Christian  life.  To  him  the  sole  authority 
of  Christ  is  the  ultimate  basis  for  the  union  of 
Christendom. 

He  further  used  the  idea  of  the  covenant  with 
wonderful  force  in  answer  to  the  question,  "What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  and,  showing  what  God 
had  done  for  us,  he  proceeded  with  equal  clear- 
ness to  show  that  man  has  something  to  do  to  be 
saved.  To  the  unbeliever,  his  answer  was  in 
Paul's  words  to  the  unbelieving  jailer  :  "  Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 
To  the  believing  multitudes  he  answered  as 
Peter  did  on  the  day  of  Pentecost :  "  Repent, 
and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall 
receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  To  the  peni- 
tent and  praying  believer,  he  answered  as  Ananias 
did  to  Saul :  "  Arise,  and  be  baptized,  and  wash 
away  thy  sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

Campbell  simplified  the  matter  of  salvation, 
showing  that  there  were  facts  to  be  believed, 
commands  to  be  obeyed  and  promises  to  be  en- 
joined, so  that  any  one  of  ordinary  intelligence 
could  comprehend  it.  This  was  distinctly  Bible 
'  ground  without  the  interpretation  of  these  Scrip- 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  79 

tural  passages  being  made  a  test  of  fellowship 
and  as  such,  to  Alexander  Campbell  and  his  as- 
sociates, it  furnished  a  reasonable  basis  for  the 
cooperation  of  all  Christians  in  the  salvation  of 
the  lost  world.  Neither  Coccejus  nor  Witsius 
appeared  to  have  seen  the  conclusion  to  which 
Campbell  had  pushed  the  covenant  idea,  but  the 
conclusion  is  irresistible  and  the  covenant  was 
made  so  simple  that  it  has  had  much  to  do  with 
the  remarkable  growth  of  the  Disciples. 

Another  influence  equally  as  great  as  an  ante- 
cedent force  in  the  rise  of  the  Disciples,  and  upon 
Alexander  Campbell  in  particular,  was  the  phi- 
losophy of  John  Locke,  of  England,  whose  de- 
sire was  to  end  sectarian  strife  by  finding  a 
philosophical  basis  for  union  and,  for  several 
generations,  his  thought  was  the  prevailing  phi- 
losophy in  the  English-speaking  world,  although 
not  applied  so  specifically  to  religious  conditions 
as  has  been  done  by  the  Disciples.  He  affirmed 
that  all  knowledge  comes  from  without  and  is 
dependent  upon  our  senses  and  the  operation  of 
the  mind,  which  we  call  reflection.  Of  belief  he 
affirmed  that  it  was  the  acceptance  of  the  testi- 
mony of  others.  In  matters  of  God,  the  evidence 
is  revelation  and  the  assent  is  faith,  which  is  set 
over  against  reason  in  exercise  upon  the  objects 
of  natural  sense,  but  faith  must  not  contradict 
reason,  and  so  he  affirmed  the  complete  reason- 
ableness of  revelation. 


8o    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

With  the  Lockean  theory  of  knowledge,  Camp- 
bell and  his  colabourers  declared  both  unscrip- 
tural  and  unwarrantable  the  eighteenth  century 
conception  of  conversion,  with  "  the  idea  of  phys- 
ical or  special  interpositions  of  God's  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  way  of  dreams,  visions,  voices,  and  imme- 
diate impulses,  issuing  in  swoonings,  faintings, 
jerkings,  shoutings  and  trances."  Instead  of 
urging  sinners  to  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit's 
action  upon  them,  they  boldly  presented  to  men 
— not  theology,  but  the  facts  concerning  Jesus 
Christ,  that  they  might  believe  on  Him,  for  faith 
was  based  on  testimony  ;  as  Paul  says,  "  Faith 
Cometh  by  hearing."  So  the  intellectual  and 
moral  order  is  first  the  word  spoken,  second  hear- 
ing, third  believing,  fourth  feeling  and  fifth  doing. 

The  test  of  the  faith  of  those  inquiring  the  way 
of  salvation  is  the  public  confession  that  "  Jesus 
is  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  which 
Locke  made  the  thesis  of  his  book  on  "The 
Reasonableness  of  Christianity."  It  was  the 
philosophy  of  common  sense  and  its  effect  was 
tremendous  upon  the  multitudes  who  were  seek- 
ing the  way  out  of  the  abstractness  of  the  relig- 
ious practices  of  those  times.  With  their  Bibles 
and  Locke's  "  Essay  on  Human  Understanding," 
the  pioneer  preachers  among  the  Disciples  went 
forth  proclaiming  the  Gospel.  Campbell  ac- 
knowledged his  debt  of  gratitude  to  Locke,  whom 
he  referred  to  as  "  the  Christian  philosopher " 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  81 

and  named  him  by  the  side  of  Paul,  Peter,  Wyclif, 
Luther,  Milton,  Newton,  Franklin  and  Washing- 
ton and  used  his  philosophy  with  unanswerable 
force  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
as  a  guide-post  back  to  the  Scriptures  for  the 
way  of  Christian  harmony. 

A  number  of  events  in  political  affairs  transpired 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  that 
led  men  of  thought  to  reflect  upon  religious  con- 
ditions. While  Coccejus  was  outlining  his  cove- 
nant theology  for  the  peace  of  Christendom,  Hugo 
Grotius,  the  ablest  jurist  of  his  time,  was  laying 
down  the  principles  for  peace  among  nations. 
In  his  book,  "The  Rights  of  War  and  Peace," 
which  became  one  of  the  most  popular  publica- 
tions in  Europe,  he  urged  the  social  contract 
among  nations  by  which  the  horrors  of  war 
might  be  mitigated  and  international  controver- 
sies settled  in  an  international  court.  It  was  out 
of  this  vision  that  Tennyson  wrote  : 

"  Till  the  war-drum  throbb'd  no  longer,  and  the  battle-flags 
were  furl'd 

In  the  Parliament  of  man,  the  Federation  of  the  world. 
There  the  common  sense  of  most  shall  hold  a  fretful 
realm  in  awe. 

And  the  kindly  earth  shall  slumber,  lapt  in  universal 
law." 

To  the  Campbells  it  gave  not  only  the  vision  of 
the  peace  of  the  nations,  but  also  of  the  Church, 


82    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

which  had  been  purchased  by  the  blood  of 
Christ. 

Then  came  the  American  Revolution,  with  its 
significant  and  remarkably  phrased  Declaration 
of  Independence,  voicing  the  sentiments  of  a 
century's  struggle  for  freedom,  and  the  atmos- 
phere of  a  new  democracy  swept  across  the  conti- 
nent, Thomas  Aquinas,  the  angelic  doctor  of 
Catholicism,  had  announced  the  distinction  be- 
tween moral  and  positive  precepts,  but  it  remained 
for  Grotius  to  bring  it  into  perfect  clearness,  in 
which  he  showed  that  moral  precepts  are  inherent 
in  the  human  mind  and  that  positive  precepts  arise 
out  of  new  conditions  and  new  authorities,  from 
which  Campbell  urged  with  force  absolute  obedi- 
ence to  the  commands  of  Christ  as  the  sovereign 
authority  of  Christendom.  The  Revolutionary 
War  had  somewhat  loosened  the  American  na- 
tion away  from  the  traditions  of  the  old  world 
and  the  new  republic  invited  freedom  of  efTort  in 
search  for  primitive  practices,  so  that  the  de- 
mocracy of  the  Disciples  grew  up  as  naturally 
on  the  American  soil  as  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  arose  upon  the  imperialism  of  decadent 
Rome  and  the  creeds  of  Protestantism  by  the 
side  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe 

These  great  currents — theological,  philosoph- 
ical and  political — were  felt  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  sometimes  singly  and  sometimes  com- 
bined, in  the  general  reconstruction  of  theological 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  83 

thought,  both  by  those  who  remained  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  their  communions  and  by  those  who  broke 
away  from  the  various  established  religious  or- 
ders. 

Ill 

Various  movements  looking  to  larger  liberty 
in  the  Church  arose.  Because  of  the  radical 
opposition  of  John  Glas  to  the  union  of  Church 
and  State,  the  Church  of  Scotland  deposed  him 
from  its  ministry  and,  in  1728,  he  began  an  inde- 
pendent movement  in  Dundee,  but  remained  a 
strict  Calvinist  and  his  work  was  continued  by 
his  son-in-law,  Robert  Sandeman. 

The  secession  of  1732  was  a  protest  against  the 
secular  aristocracy  controlling  the  afTairs  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland.  Ebenezer  Erskine  was  cen- 
sured by  the  Assembly  for  his  championship  of 
the  protest  and,  with  others,  he  was  suspended 
from  the  ministry,  which  resulted  in  the  evangel- 
ical party  seceding  from  the  Church  of  Scotland 
and  became  the  Seceder  Presbyterian  Church. 

In  1767,  Archibald  McLean  led  a  small  follow- 
ing out  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  They  prac- 
ticed immersion,  observed  the  Lord's  Supper 
weekly  and  were  called  Scotch  Baptists,  although 
they  had  no  connection  with  the  English  Baptists. 

From  the  influence  of  the  great  revivals  under 
Wesley  and  Whitefield  in  England  and  the  for- 
eign missionary  awakening  under  Carey  and 


84    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Fuller,  arose  a  movement  in  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land with  Robert  and  James  A.  Haldane,  two 
wealthy  laymen  of  Edinburgh,  as  leaders  and, 
on  the  opposition  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  to 
lay  preaching,  that  movement  became  independ- 
ent and,  like  the  others,  it  was  sincerely  seeking 
for  New  Testament  simplicity. 

Without  knowledge  of  each  other,  local  congre- 
gations began  to  spring  up  in  England,  Scotland 
and  Ireland  and  also  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
in  New  York,  Baltimore,  Pittsburgh  and  other 
cities.  Some  were  from  the  Scotch  Baptists, 
others  from  the  Haldanes,  and  still  others  inde- 
pendent of  all  movements,  but  all  were  committed 
to  the  New  Testament  as  the  only  standard  of 
faith  and  practice. 

In  opposition  to  the  episcopacy  of  the  Method- 
ist Church,  James  O' Kelly  led  a  revolt  from  that 
communion  in  1792  in  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, while  Abner  Jones,  in  1800,  was  leading  a 
revolt  from  the  Baptist  Church  in  New  England 
against  human  creeds  and  denominational  names. 
These  two  movements  took  the  name  Christian 
and  later  they  received  some  additions  from 
the  Christian  movement  in  Kentucky  and  other 
Western  states  and  formed  what  is  now  known 
as  the  Christian  denomination. 

In  1 801,  Barton  W.  Stone  held  a  great  revival 
meeting  at  Cane  Ridge,  Kentucky,  in  which  per- 
sons of  other  communions  assisted,  and  for  this 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  85 

censure  came  upon  him  and  those  associated  with 
him  from  the  Lexington  Presbytery  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  which  he  was  a  member.  Con- 
siderable feehng  was  aroused  and  for  peace 
Stone  and  those  associated  with  him  withdrew 
from  the  Lexington  Presbytery  and  organized 
the  Springfield  Presbytery  "  But,"  said  he,  "  we 
had  not  worn  our  name  more  than  a  year,  before 
we  saw  that  it  savoured  of  a  party  spirit  with 
man-made  creeds.  We  threw  it  overboard  and 
took  the  name  Christian — the  name  given  to  the 
disciples  by  divine  appointment  first  at  Antioch." 
In  1804,  he  wrote  the  "  Last  Will  and  Testament 
of  the  Springfield  Presbytery,"  and,  with  no  de- 
sire to  form  another  communion,  they  started  a 
movement,  as  they  expressed  it,  "  to  sink  into 
union  with  the  body  of  Christ  at  large  "  and 
took  the  Bible  as  their  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

Because  of  inviting  all  Christians  to  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  Washington 
County,  Pennsylvania,  Thomas  Campbell  was 
censured  by  the  Seceder  Presbytery  of  Chartiers, 
which  produced  such  painful  conditions  between 
himself  and  his  brethren  that  he  was  obliged  to 
withdraw  from  the  presbytery.  He  had  served 
with  distinction  in  the  ministry  of  the  Seceder 
branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland  and 
had  given  himself  heartily  to  the  healing  of  a 
breach  between  two  parties  in  his  own  com- 
munion, known  as  Burghers  and  Anti-Burghers, 


86    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

which  had  to  do  with  taking  oaths  in  expressing 
loyalty  to  the  Established  Church,  as  they  inter- 
preted it.  His  efforts,  however,  were  futile  at  the 
time,  but  the  union  came  later.  He  and  his  son, 
Alexander,  had  come  in  touch  with  the  inde- 
pendent movements  in  Scotland  and  had  been 
especially  impressed  by  the  ministries  of  Row- 
land Hill,  the  Haldanes,  Alexander  Carson  and 
others.  The  Wesleyan  revivals  were  likewise  a 
great  influence  on  their  lives,  as  they  stirred 
England,  Scotland  and  especially  Ireland. 

In  1807,  Thomas  Campbell  came  to  America 
in  search  of  health  and  was  assigned  to  Western 
Pennsylvania,  which  was  then  frontier  territory. 
He  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity 
of  union  as  he  came  in  contact  with  persons  of 
various  communions  without  any  pastoral  care. 
This  condition  led  him  to  invite  those  scat- 
tered Christians  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  although 
he  knew  at  the  time  that  it  was  against  the 
practice  of  that  branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member ;  but,  to  him, 
the  fellowship  of  the  saints  held  precedence  over 
all  creeds.  To  his  Seceder  brethren,  he  declared 
that  he  saw  nothing  wrong  in  his  course,  which 
appeared  to  him  as  "  indispensably  necessary  to 
promote  unity,  peace  and  purity  of  the  Church." 
And,  "  Say,  brethren,  what  is  my  offense,  that  I 
should  be  thrust  out  from  the  heritage  of  the 
Lord,  or  from  serving  Him  in  that  good  work 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  87 

to  which  He  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  call 
me?" 

He  continued  preaching  and  his  bitter  experi- 
ence showed  him  afresh  the  necessity  of  mingling 
freely  with  all  Christians.  They  loved  him  and 
his  ministry  among  them  was  attended  with  con- 
stant blessing.  He  made  no  attempt  to  organize 
a  Church,  but  continued  to  emphasize  the  un- 
wisdom of  divisions  among  Christians,  insisting 
that  the  Scriptures  were  all  sufficient.  For  the 
mutual  study  of  the  Word,  they  formed  "  The 
Christian  Association  of  Washington,"  and  Camp- 
bell drew  up  what  he  termed  "  A  Declaration  and 
Address,"  which  was  nothing  less  than  a  declara- 
tion of  independence,  and  he  said :  "  It  is  high 
time  for  us  not  only  to  think,  but  to  act  for  our- 
selves .  .  and  to  take  all  our  measures 
directly  and  immediately  from  the  divine  stand- 
ard." That  year,  1809,  his  son,  Alexander,  came 
to  America  and  he  enthusiastically  subscribed  to 
the  Declaration  and  Address,  for  he  had  been  hav- 
ing experiences  in  the  old  world  that  had  directed 
him  in  the  same  channels  of  thought  as  his  father. 

They  saw,  however,  the  possibility  of  another 
communion  being  formed,  and  so  Thomas  Camp- 
bell applied  for  membership  in  the  Pittsburgh 
Presbytery  of  the  regular  Presbyterian  Church. 
This  being  denied  him,  they  affiliated  themselves 
in  181 3  with  the  Baptists  of  the  Redstone  Asso- 
ciation. 


88    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Alexander  Campbell  was  then  the  recognized 
leader  in  the  plea  for  the  Bible  basis  of  fellow- 
ship ;  but,  because  of  Campbell's  hostility  to 
Calvinism  as  a  test  of  fellowship,  relations  be- 
came strained  and  they  transferred  their  member- 
ship to  the  Mahoning  Association,  where  they 
were  assured  of  more  sympathy  and  freedom,  for 
the  Campbells  were  strongly  averse  to  being 
parties  to  starting  another  communion.  Later 
Alexander  Campbell  wrote :  *'  I  and  the  Church 
with  which  I  am  connected  are  in  full  communion 
with  the  Mahoning  Baptist  Association  of  Ohio  ; 
and  through  them  with  the  whole  Baptist  Asso- 
ciation of  the  United  States  ;  and  I  intend  to  con- 
tinue in  connection  with  these  people,  so  long  as 
they  will  permit  me  to  say  what  I  believe,  to 
teach  what  I  am  assured  of  and  to  censure  what 
is  amiss  in  their  views  and  practices.  I  have  no 
idea  of  adding  to  the  catalogue  of  new  sects. 
This  game  has  been  played  long  enough."  But 
the  inevitable  came.  Excommunications  began 
and  by  1832  the  Baptists  and  the  Disciples  were 
finally  separated. 

Against  their  will,  the  Disciples  of  Christ  had 
been  forced  into  a  separate  communion.  They 
could  not  stifle  their  convictions.  They  could 
not  sink  out  of  sight.  Their  own  experiences 
intensified  to  them  the  Church's  need  of  their 
message,  and  thousands  of  believers,  seeking  for 
the  union  of  Christendom  by  the  way  of  the  New 


The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  89 

Testament,  flocked  to  their  standard.  Alexander 
Campbell  appeared  to  have  been  divinely  en- 
dowed for  the  leadership  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury Reformation,  as  Martin  Luther  had  been 
for  the  sixteenth  century  and,  for  the  next  thirty 
years,  although  without  authority  above  the 
humblest,  he  was  the  towering  personality  in 
that  communion,  where  he  delighted  to  be 
known  as  simply  "  Brother  Campbell." 

Other  reformers  left  their  theological  systems 
and  circumstances  out  of  which  denominational 
names  were  created.  Not  so  with  Alexander 
Campbell.  He  gave  neither  his  name  to  any 
communion,  nor  did  he  leave  a  single  sentence 
that  is  of  authority  in  any  Church  in  Christen- 
dom. He  tore  away  all  systems  of  theology 
from  around  the  Bible,  gave  not  to  it  his  own, 
but  left  the  holy  pages  clean  as  when  they  came 
from  the  hands  of  prophets,  apostles  and  evan- 
gelists, that  coming  ages  might  read  clearly 
God's  message  to  the  souls  of  men,  so  that  to 
him  belongs  the  title  "  the  defender  of  the  faith." 

Emerson  was  right  when  he  said  "  the  stand- 
ing army,  the  arsenal,  the  camp  and  the  gibbet 
do  not  appertain  to  man.  They  only  serve  as 
an  index  to  show  where  man  is  now."  The 
strife  and  divisions  of  the  past  do  not  appertain 
to  Christianity.  Noble  men  fought  on  both  sides 
— Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants,  Protestants 
and  Disciples — fought  for  truth  as  they  saw  it  and 


9©    The  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

the  conflict  only  shows  where  Christianity  was 
at  that  period.  The  best  years  lie  before  us. 
Truth  belongs  to  no  communion  nor  party  and, 
as  we  proceed,  it  will  fill  all  parties  and  com- 
munions, like  the  sun  shining  upon  the  snow- 
capped hills  melts  all  that  coldness  into  liquid 
beauty.  The  peace  of  the  Church  is  as  sure  as 
the  sun,  and  a  thousand  prophecies  reach  out 
for  their  fulfillments. 


Our  Father,  Thou  art  the  Friend  of  us  all  and 
the  costliness  of  Thy  Church  is  a  perpetual  re- 
minder to  us  of  the  immortality  of  Thy  love. 
When  the  days  were  dark  in  that  long  history 
since  Jesus  was  on  earth,  some  of  our  brothers 
lost  the  vision  of  Thyself,  and  Thy  Word  was 
sometimes  forgotten  in  the  bitterness  of  strife,  but 
as  we  strive  to  get  back  to  Thy  sacred  ideals  of 
a  holy  and  united  Church,  we  ask  that  Thou 
wouldst  check  the  first  rising  of  sectarianism  and 
unbrotherliness  in  our  thoughts  and  hold  us  true 
to  Thy  Word,  that  Thy  Spirit  be  no  longer 
grieved.  Make  us  long-suffering  and  charitable 
to  those  who  differ  with  us  and  kind  and  gentle 
to  all,  especially  to  those  who  love  us  not. 
Show  us  the  path — Thy  path,  for  we  would  walk 
in  no  other,  and  may  we  take  no  step  other  than 
that  which  is  ordered  of  Thee  and  go  nowhere 
except  Thou  go  with  us,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord.  Amen. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DISCIPLES  OF 
CHRIST 

LECTURE  THREE 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

HISTORY  is  one  of  God's  books  through 
which  He  speaks  to  living  multitudes. 
Fichte  called  it  "  a  constant  inflowing 
of  God  into  human  affairs,"  and  Farrar  said  : 
"  History  is  like  a  battle.  It  sways  to  and  fro, 
and  it  is  full  of  shocks  and  flank  movements, 
retreats  and  advances,  rout  and  resistance,  utterly 
confusing  to  those  who  take  part  in  it ;  neverthe- 
less we  know  in  the  evening  which  side  has  lost 
or  won."  The  whole  history  of  Christianity 
presents  one  series  of  baffling  problems.  There 
are  at  times  in  its  history  such  grave  departures 
from  the  standard  of  Christ  and,  in  His  name, 
such  unspeakable  things  are  done,  that  if  one 
lingers  on  the  details  of  those  transactions  of  the 
night  of  our  common  faith,  he  might  turn  away 
in  disgust  from  the  only  light  in  the  world,  and 
say  with  the  Frenchman,  who  cried  in  despair : 
"  Christ  has  come,  but  whence  cometh  salva- 
tion?" But,  if  he  looks  with  wide-visioned  eye, 
until  above  all  retreats  and  advances  he  sees 
God,  he  will  understand  that  beyond  to-day  lies 
an  untrodden  domain  of  human  life,  whose  west- 
ward horizon  waits  for  the  peace  of  toil  and  the 
triumph  of  truth. 

93 


94    The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

The  history  of  movements  in  Christianity  is 
similar  to  the  history  of  Christianity  at  large,  only 
their  channels  are  not  so  deep,  nor  their  horizons 
so  wide.  It  is  only  when  movements  lose  them- 
selves in  the  bosom  of  Christianity  that  their  in- 
fluences strike  the  deeps  and  leave  their  pulse 
beats  on  all  shores.  The  history  of  the  people 
known  as  the  Disciples  of  Christ  craves  to  touch 
the  Christianity  of  the  whole  world  and  to  be 
lost  in  the  deathless  love  of  God.  It  seeks  no 
preferment  for  itself,  but  its  desire  is  only  to 
serve  for  the  victory  of  Jesus  Christ  our  common 
Lord. 

I 

Beginning  in  the  second  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  along  about  1830  to  1832,  the 
Disciples  became  a  separate  communion.  They 
had  back  of  them  an  earnest  desire  for  the  union 
of  Christendom  by  a  return  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  doctrine  and  practice.  Before  them 
they  had  a  deeply  entrenched  sectarianism,  both 
Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic,  whose  hostility 
was  uncompromising,  chiefly  because  of  the  pre- 
vailing belief  that  denominationalism  was  the  nor- 
mal and  permanent  condition  of  the  Church ; 
but,  with  no  creed  other  than  Jesus  Christ  and  no 
book  of  authority  other  than  the  New  Testament, 
the  Disciples  have  pushed  their  way  into  nearly 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  95 

all  parts  of  the  earth,  preaching  Jesus  and  Him 
crucified. 

They  have  not  sought  to  make  men  accept 
any  human  philosophy  or  systems  of  theology, 
for  they  have  had  none  to  present,  but  their  pas- 
sion has  been  to  make  men  accept  the  living 
Christ  as  their  personal  Saviour — to  wear  His 
name,  keep  His  ordinances  and  live  His  life. 
They  have  made  their  failures — sometimes  gross 
failures,  for  after  all  the  best  of  them  have  been 
only  men,  men  of  like  passions  as  Elijah  and 
Peter  and  James  and  Origen  and  Augustine  and 
Francis  and  Luther,  but  nevertheless  fidelity  to 
their  ideals  has  borne  them  forward  with  phenom- 
enal victories. 

Into  the  background  of  this  history,  their  im- 
mediate antecedents  reach  into  the  most  dis- 
heartening period  of  the  life  of  the  American 
republic.  England  forbade  the  publication  of  the 
Bible  in  the  colonies  so  long  as  they  were 
dependencies  of  her  crown,  and  there  was  a 
famine  of  the  word  of  God.  The  French  soldiers, 
who  had  so  bravely  aided  the  colonies  in  their 
struggle  for  independence,  had  scattered  infidel 
ideas  broadcast  over  the  republic.  Slavery, 
duelling,  intemperance,  profanity,  lewdness  and 
every  kind  of  immorality  was  looked  upon  with 
complaisance.  Colleges  were  hot-beds  of  skep- 
ticism and  three-fourths  of  their  students  were 
avowed  unbelievers.    Daniel  Dorchester,  in  his 


96    The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

"  Christianity  in  the  United  States,"  says  that  at 
Yale  College  "  in  1795  only  eleven  undergraduates 
were  members  of  the  College  Church.  Four 
years  after  the  number  was  reduced  to  four  or 
five  and  at  one  communion  only  a  single  student 
was  present." 

Calvinism  was  the  prevailing  system  of  theology 
throughout  the  nation,  and  so  in  the  minds  of 
most  Christians  there  was  nothing  to  be  done. 
Parents  objected  to  their  children  being  talked  to 
regarding  their  personal  salvation,  for  said  they  : 
'*  If  our  sons  and  daughters  are  the  elect  of  God, 
He  will  in  His  own  time  and  way  regenerate 
them.  To  persuade  them  to  become  Christians 
may  make  them  hypocrites."  There  was  bitter 
opposition  to  Sunday-schools  and  all  societies  for 
the  inculcation  of  temperance  and  for  the  distri- 
bution of  Bibles  and  tracts  and  for  preaching  of 
the  Gospel.  Persons  who  took  part  in  furthering 
any  of  these  interests  were  regarded  as  heretics. 
An  attempt  on  the  part  of  some  Baptist  churches 
in  Maryland  as  late  as  1836  to  cooperate  in  mis- 
sions and  the  distribution  of  Bibles  resulted  in  the 
Baltimore  Association  erasing  their  names  from 
the  roll 

Sectarianism  maintained  a  constant  warfare 
between  the  Churches  and  political  jealousies  and 
factions  had  brought  the  union  to  the  verge  of 
dissolution,  while  many  thought  that  Christianity 
had  proven  to  be  incompetent  for  the  world's 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  97 

need  and  was  then  passing  away,  like  the  relig- 
ions of  ancient  Rome  and  Athens.  Dorchester 
said  :  "  The  most  pious  people  in  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  the  United  States, 
entertained  a  faith  so  unlike  the  present  belief  of 
evangelical  Christians  as  to  almost  create  the  im- 
pression on  our  minds  that  their  religion  was  not 
the  same  religion  which  we  now  have  and  in 
which  we  believe."  Jeremiah  B.  Jeter,  perhaps 
the  ablest  Baptist  minister  in  Virginia  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century  and  author  of  a 
book  opposing  the  Reformation  of  the  Campbells, 
dared  to  say  in  the  opening  pages  of  his  book  : 
*'  That  a  reformation  was  needed  by  the  Chris- 
tian sects  of  that  time  none,  who  possess  a  toler- 
able acquaintance  with  their  condition  and  the 
claims  of  the  Gospel,  will  deny.  .  .  .  Among 
the  Baptist  Churches  there  were  some  sad  evils. 
In  parts  of  the  country  the  Churches  were  in- 
fected with  an  antinomian  spirit,  and  blighted  by 
a  heartless,  speculative,  hair-splitting  orthodoxy." 
The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
issued  a  letter  in  1798  expressing  its  "  pain  and 
fearful  apprehension  "  concerning  the  "  prevail- 
ing impiety  and  contempt  for  laws  and  instruc- 
tions of  religion  and  an  abounding  infidelity." 
Other  communions  expressed  themselves  in 
similar  fear. 

As  a  protest  against  these  conditions,  devout 
believers  were  meeting  in  prayer  and  seeking  to 


98    The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

find  a  way  out  of  the  gloom.  Here  and  there 
were  fearless  prophets  calling  for  repentance 
towards  God  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century  gave  some  in- 
dications of  improvement,  both  in  Church  and 
college  life.  An  occasional  revival  brought  to- 
gether vast  multitudes.  In  1801,  a  great  revival 
at  Cane  Ridge,  Kentucky,  under  the  leadership 
of  Barton  W.  Stone,  a  Presbyterian  minister, 
swept  like  a  forest  fire  through  that  region. 
Stone  wrote  that  "  the  roads  were  literally 
crowded  with  wagons,  carriages,  horsemen,  foot- 
men, moving  to  the  solemn  camp.  The  sight 
was  affecting.  It  was  judged  by  military  men 
on  the  ground  that  there  were  between  twenty 
and  thirty  thousand  collected.  Four  or  five 
preachers  were  frequently  speaking  at  the  same 
time  in  dififerent  parts  of  the  encampment  with- 
out confusion.  Methodist  and  Baptist  preachers 
aided  in  the  work  and  all  appeared  cordially 
united  in  it — of  one  mind  and  one  soul,  and  the 
salvation  of  sinners  seemed  to  be  the  great  ob- 
ject of  all." 

But  the  meeting  precipitated  grave  trouble, 
for  Richard  McNemar,  a  Presbyterian  minister 
associated  with  Stone,  was  called  before  the  Lex- 
ington Presbytery  as  a  kind  of  test  case  and 
censured  for  affiliating  with  ministers  of  other 
communions  during  the  revival.  Conditions  be- 
came so  painful  that  Stone,  McNemar  and  others 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  99 

withdrew  from  the  Lexington  Presbytery  and, 
with  others  who  were  in  sympathy  with  their 
more  Hberal  policy,  organized  the  Springfield 
Presbytery.  This,  however,  was  dissolved  in 
1804  and  Stone  wrote  its  "  Last  Will  and  Testa- 
ment," in  which  was  expressed  the  desire  for 
union  with  all  Christians.  They  took  the  name 
Christian  and  "  the  Bible  as  the  only  sure  guide 
to  heaven,"  "  without  any  mixture  of  philosophy, 
vain  deceit,  traditions  of  men  or  rudiments  of  the 
world."  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  great  move- 
ment and  thousands  enlisted  in  their  fellowship. 

Some  years  after,  Thomas  Campbell,  a  minis- 
ter of  the  Seceder  branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania,  in- 
vited all  Christians  to  sit  together  in  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  Seceder  Pres- 
byterians practiced  close  communion,  and 
Campbell  was  censured  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Chartiers,  from  which  he  appealed  to  the  Asso- 
ciate Synod  of  North  America,  and  the  censure 
was  removed.  After  this,  the  charges  which 
had  been  before  the  presbytery  were  referred  to 
a  committee,  which  expressed  itself  as  finding 
"sufficient  ground  to  infer  censure."  Not  de- 
siring to  be  separated  from  his  brethren  Camp- 
bell submitted  to  the  censure  ;  but  out  of  the 
issues  of  the  trial  and  because  of  his  catholicity 
of  spirit,  opposition  against  him  grew  more 
bitter.    Though  deeply  pained,  he  faced  the  inev- 


loo   The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

itable  necessity  and  withdrew  from  the  Seceders. 
He  continued  preaching  in  the  neighbourhood, 
where  he  was  greatly  beloved,  using  barns, 
groves  and  houses  as  the  occasion  offered,  and 
the  dominant  note  of  his  message  was :  "  Chris- 
tian liberality  and  Christian  union  upon  the  basis 
of  the  Bible." 

His  earnest  appeals  led  him  to  affirm  that 
'*  Where  the  Scriptures  speak,  we  speak  ;  and 
where^  the  Scriptures  are  silent,  we  are  silent," 
which  has  become  an  axiom  among  the  Disciples. 
It  was  a  significant  motto  and  marked  the  be- 
ginning of  another  current  in  the  tid^  of  Chris- 
tian union.  Campbell  himself  did  not  realize  the 
full  force  of  what  he  had  said.  It  brought  oppo- 
sition immediately  from  the  little  company  to 
which  he  was  speaking  and  one  arose  and  said  : 
"  Mr.  Campbell,  if  we  adopt  that  as  a  basis,  then 
there  is  an  end  of  infant  baptism."  "  Of  course," 
said  Campbell,  "  if  infant  baptism  is  not  found  in 
the  Scriptures,  we  can  have  nothing  to  do  with 
it."  Another  excitedly  arose  and  said  :  "I  hope 
that  I  may  never  see  the  day  when  my  heart 
will  renounce  that  blessed  saying  of  Scripture, 
'  Suffer  little  children,  and  forbid  them  not,  to 
come  unto  Me  :  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,' "  whereupon  another  said  :  "  I  would 
remark  that  in  the  portion  of  Scripture  you  have 
quoted  there  is  no  reference  whatever  to  infant 
baptism."    It  was  a  serious  time.    Acheson,  who 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  loi 

had  made  the  defense  for  infant  baptism,  went 
out  and  wept  alone,  which  was  a  prophecy  of  the 
trials  that  awaited  the  advance  of  this  new  move- 
ment. Campbell  had  been  baptized  in  infancy 
and  he  appears  to  have  never  doubted  the  Scrip- 
tural authority  for  that  baptism.  Although  rep- 
resenting nearly  every  phase  of  denominational 
difTerences,  they  were  one  in  their  search  for 
truth  and  knew  not  the  path  that  they  were  des- 
tined to  tread. 

In  1809,  Thomas  Campbell  organized  "The 
Christian  Association  of  Washington "  on  the 
model  of  the  Wesleyan  and  Haldanean  societies 
of  the  old  world.  It  was  not  a  Church  in  any 
sense,  but  simply  an  association  of  persons  from 
various  communions  "  as  voluntary  advocates  of 
Church  reformation,"  and  he  wrote  "  A  Declara- 
tion and  Address  "  setting  forth  the  purpose  of 
the  Association  and  declaring  independence  of 
all  systems  of  theology  as  tests  of  fellowship ;  he 
pleaded  for  the  union  of  all  Christians  upon  the 
Bible,  insisting  that  "  nothing  ought  to  be  re- 
ceived into  the  faith  and  worship  of  the  Church, 
or  be  made  a  term  of  communion  among  Chris- 
tians, that  is  not  as  old  as  the  New  Testament." 

Fearing  that  they  might  become  another  sect 
in  the  midst  of  the  already  too  many  sects, 
Campbell  was  urged  by  his  friends  to  make  over- 
tures to  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  for  "  Christian 
and  ministerial  communion  "  with  the  regular 


102   The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Presbyterian  Church,  but  the  synod  by  a  unani- 
mous vote  refused  to  receive  him  upon  the 
following  grounds : 

"  (i)  For  expressing  his  belief  that  there  are 
some  opinions  taught  in  our  Confession 
of  Faith  which  are  not  found  in  the 
Bible. 

"(2)  For  declaring  that  the  administration  of 
baptism  to  infants  is  not  authorized  by 
Scriptural  precept  or  example. 

"(3)  For  encouraging  his  son  to  preach  with- 
out any  regular  authority. 

"  (4)  For  opposing  creeds  and  confessions  as 
injurious  to  the  interest  of  religion." 

This  was  in  1810  and  the  next  year  they  organized 
their  membership  at  Brush  Run  into  a  Church. 
Out  of  a  careful  study  of  the  Scriptures,  Alex- 
ander, son  of  Thomas  Campbell,  decided  to  be 
rebaptized  and  his  father  and  a  majority  of  the 
members  decided  to  follow  his  example.  And 
they  were  baptized  by  immersion  June  12,  1812, 
on  a  public  confession  that  "  Jesus  is  the  Messiah, 
the  only  begotten  Son  of  God."  Henceforth  the 
leadership  of  the  movement  gradually  fell  to 
Alexander  Campbell,  who  was  at  that  time  per- 
haps twenty-five  years  old. 

Two  streams  had  started — one  in  Kentucky  in 
1804  and  another  in  Pennsylvania  in  1809.  Both 
Stone  and  Campbell  were  Presbyterian  ministers 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  103 

of  culture  and  piety  and  each  was  acting  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  other.  In  consequence  of 
their  protests  against  prevailing  conditions,  both 
were  forced  to  leave  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
Those  associated  with  Stone  continued  their  in- 
dependent course,  being  called  Christians,  like 
the  model  of  the  first  disciples  at  Antioch,  while 
those  associated  with  Campbell,  unwilling  to  be 
a  separate  communion,  accepted  overtures  from 
the  Baptists. 

In  1813  they  affiliated  themselves  with  that 
communion  for  a  time,  the  wisdom  of  which  is 
questioned  by  some,  because  of  the  handicap  of 
aligning  themselves  with  any  communion  and 
then  the  bitterness  that  followed  the  separation. 
That  it  gave  the  Campbells  the  most  propitious 
field  for  their  operations  cannot  be  denied  ;  at 
the  same  time  Campbell  gave  prestige  to  the 
Baptists,  for  he  was  the  ablest  man  among  them 
in  those  years  and  his  fame  throughout  America 
and  Europe  was  counted  to  their  cause  ;  besides 
to  Campbell  must  be  given  some  of  the  credit, 
along  with  European  influences,  for  largely  free- 
ing the  Baptist  Church  from  credal  authority  and 
other  unscriptural  practices  that  characterized  it 
in  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  Brush  Run  Church  had  been  received  into 
the  Redstone  Association  on  clearly  stipulated  con- 
ditions that  they  were  not  required  to  subscribe  to 
the  Philadelphia  Confession  and  "  be  allowed  to 


1  ©4  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

teach  and  preach  whatever  they  learned  from 
the  Holy  Scriptures,"  but  almost  from  the  be- 
ginning they  found  themselves  in  an  unwelcomed 
fellowship,  due  largely  to  the  prevailing  igno- 
rance through  that  section,  for  what  Newman  in 
his  "  History  of  the  Baptists  "  says  of  the  early 
Baptists  of  Kentucky  applied  equally,  if  not  more 
significantly,  to  the  Redstone  district.  He  said : 
"They  looked  with  suspicion  upon  the  highly 
educated  and  preferred  a  minister  from  the  ranks 
of  the  people  earning  a  support  by  following 
secular  pursuits." 

In  1816,  Campbell  delivered  before  the  Red- 
stone Association  his  famous  sermon  on  the  Law, 
in  which  he  contrasted  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment, attacking  the  popular  divisions  of  moral, 
ceremonial  and  judicial,  and  arguing  that  the 
Old  Testament  law  was  primarily  designed  for 
the  Jews  and  that  the  New  Testament  was  the 
book  of  Christ,  whose  authority  was  altogether 
above  the  authority  of  Moses  and  whose  words 
must  be  the  sole  rule  of  the  Christian  life.  It 
was  based  on  the  covenant  idea  in  which  he  held 
to  the  historic  sense  of  development,  declaring 
that  the  Christian  dispensation  was  the  sunlight 
age  of  the  world.  All  this  is  very  ordinary  now, 
but  it  precipitated  bitter  controversy  then.  He 
published  it,  hoping  that  on  being  read  it  might 
be  better  understood.  It  was  his  first  publication, 
and  years  after  he  wrote  that  but  for  the  persecu- 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  105 

tion  begun  on  the  alleged  heresy  of  this  ser- 
mon, it  was  doubtful  whether  the  present  Ref- 
ormation would  ever  have  been  advocated  by 
him. 

As  Campbell's  influence  widened,  the  opposi- 
tion became  more  bitter,  so  that  by  1823  it  was 
definitely  planned  to  expel  him  from  the  Red- 
stone Association.  In  1820,  he  had  held  a  public 
debate  at  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio,  with  John  Walker, 
a  Seceder  Presbyterian  minister,  on  Christian  bap- 
tism, and  he  hesitated  six  months  before  accepting 
the  challenge,  not  being  satisfied  at  that  time  that 
it  was  the  best  method  for  making  known  the 
truth,  although  afterwards  he  regarded  it  with 
favour. 

In  the  year  1823,  he  was  solicited  to  debate  the 
same  subject  at  Washington,  Kentucky,  with 
William  Maccalla.  These  debates  lasted  for 
several  days.  They  were  afterwards  printed  and 
widely  read.  The  subject  was  of  a  character  to 
mightily  strengthen  Campbell  with  the  Baptists, 
but  to  separate  him  further  from  the  Presby- 
terians. Hearing  of  the  plan  to  expel  him  and 
not  wishing  to  appear  at  the  disadvantage  of 
being  excommunicated  by  his  own  communion 
when  he  met  Maccalla  in  debate,  he  had  twenty 
members,  himself  one  of  the  number,  to  be 
granted  letters  from  the  Brush  Run  Church  and 
they  organized  a  Church  in  Wellsburg,  and  ap- 
plied for  membership  in  the  Mahoning  Baptist 


lo6  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Association,  which  was  composed  of  a  more 
liberal  and  better  educated  ministry.  To  the 
disappointment  of  his  enemies,  when  they  called 
upon  him,  he  informed  them  that  he  was  not 
under  their  jurisdiction. 

That  year  on  one  of  his  tours  to  Kentucky,  he 
met  P.  S.  Fall,  minister  of  the  Baptist  Church  in 
Louisville  and  an  Englishman  of  scholarship  and 
piety,  who  warmly  espoused  the  Reformation, 
and  afterwards  Fall  went  to  the  Baptist  Church 
in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  made  the  Bible  the 
sole  standard  there  as  he  had  done  at  Louisville. 
In  1826,  ten  Churches  of  the  Redstone  Association 
excommunicated  fourteen  of  their  sister  Churches 
for  being  in  sympathy  with  the  Reformation,  and 
among  the  ministers  excommunicated  was  Mat- 
thias Luce,  who  had  baptized  the  Campbells  in 
violation  of  Baptist  usage. 

That  year  registered  up  to  eighteen  Churches 
for  the  Reformation — Brush  Run,  Wellsburg, 
Louisville,  Nashville  and  the  fourteen  of  the  Red- 
stone Association — and  thousands  of  members 
throughout  the  country  in  sympathy  with  the 
message,  while  excommunications  increased,  but 
even  then  the  Campbells  had  no  idea  of  leaving 
the  Baptist  Church.  They  believed  that  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation  could  be  worked 
out  in  that  communion.  The  traditional  love  of 
religious  liberty,  they  believed,  was  a  guarantee 
among  the  more  enlightened  Baptists  for  the 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  107 

continuation  of  their  fellowship  with  them.  The 
Mahoning  Association  came  over  in  a  body,  with 
the  exception  of  four  Churches,  and  other  associa- 
tions and  Churches  lined  up  for  the  Bible  basis 
over  against  the  Philadelphia  Confession,  which 
had  been  adopted  by  the  Baptists  in  1742  and 
was  a  Calvinistic  creed. 

In  1823,  Campbell  started  the  Christian  Baptist, 
a  monthly  publication,  and  in  1830  he  discon- 
tinued it  and  started  the  Millennial  Harbinger, 
also  a  monthly  publication,  and  a  decidedly  better 
spirited  journal,  but  both  boldly  and  unmercifully 
attacked  the  abuses  of  the  Christianity  of  their 
day,  whether  among  Baptists,  Presbyterians  or 
others  and  fearlessly  pointed  the  way  to  a  better 
condition  by  the  abolition  of  creeds  and  all  sys- 
tems of  theology  as  tests  of  fellowship  and  by  a 
return  to  the  New  Testament  in  doctrine  and 
practice. 

By  1830,  the  continued  afifiliation  with  the 
Baptists  began  to  appear  doubtful,  although 
Thomas  Campbell  made  a  tour  East  in  1831 
and  he  was  received  into  the  leading  Baptist 
pulpits  of  Virginia  ;  but  by  1832  that  courtesy 
was  denied  Alexander  in  New  York,  Philadelphia 
and  elsewhere.  Bitterness  from  both  sides  had 
gotten  into  the  controversy  and  the  Reformers 
were  driven  from  the  Baptist  fold.  John  Kerr,  of 
Virginia,  led  in  the  passage  of  the  decrees  of  the 
Dover  Association  in  the  fall  of  1832,  which  ex- 


io8  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

communicated  six  preachers  '  and  which  may  be 
regarded  as  marking  the  final  separation  between 
the  Reformers  and  the  Baptists.  Upon  this  ac- 
tion, Campbell  wrote  Kerr :  "All  the  world  must 
see  that  we  have  been  forced  into  a  separate  com- 
munion. We  were  driven  out  of  doors  because 
we  preferred  the  approbation  of  the  Lord  to  the 
approbation  of  any  sect  in  Christendom.  If  that 
be  our  weakness,  we  ought  not  to  be  despised — 
if  that  be  our  wisdom,  we  ought  not  to  be  con- 
demned. We  have  lost  no  peace  of  conscience, 
.  nor  of  the  honour  which  comes  from  God,  none 
of  the  enjoyments  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  nothing  of 
the  sweetness  of  Christian  communion  by  the  un- 
kindness  of  those  who  once  called  us  brethren." 

II 

Thus  the  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  Disciples 
began  in  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Up  to  this  time,  they  were  known  as  Re- 
formers or  sometimes  as  Reformed  Baptists  or 
Christian  Baptists  and  by  the  rude  as  Camp- 
bellites,  but  Campbell  advocated  any  Scriptural 
name,  preferably  Disciples  of  Christ,  which  was 
not  then  used  by  any  communion,  and  it  had 
in  it  the  meekness  and  simplicity  of  the  earliest 
Christian  association. 

» The  name  Peter  Ainslie,  grandfather  of  the  lecturer,  headed  this 
list  of  preachers. 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  109 

It  is  significant  that  the  Disciples  are  among 
the  few  communions  that  do  not  wear  a  nick- 
name. Even  "  Roman  Catholic "  was  thrust 
upon  that  communion  by  its  enemies  as  the 
name  "  Methodist "  was  thrust  upon  that  com- 
munion. Luther  said  to  his  followers :  "  I  pray 
you  to  leave  my  name  alone,  and  not  to  call  your- 
selves Lutherans,  but  Christians.  Who  is  Luther  ? 
My  doctrine  is  not  mine  !  I  have  not  been  cruci- 
fied for  any  one.  St.  Paul  (i  Cor.  iii.)  would  not 
that  any  one  should  call  themselves  of  Paul,  nor 
of  Peter,  but  of  Christ.  How  then  doth  it  befit 
me,  a  miserable  bag  of  dust  and  ashes,  to  give 
my  name  to  the  children  of  Christ  I  Cease,  my 
dear  friends,  to  cling  to  these  party  names  and 
distinctions  ;  away  with  them  all ;  let  us  call  our- 
selves only  Christians  after  Him  from  whom  our 
doctrine  comes."  Newman  said  of  the  Baptists : 
"  The  name  Baptist  was  not  a  self-chosen  one. 
,  .  .  These  party  names  they  earnestly  re- 
pudiated, preferring  to  be  called  Brethren,  Chris- 
tians, Disciples  of  Christ,  Believers  etc,"  In 
spite  of  it  being  ofiFensive  to  other  Christians,  the 
Disciples  have  felt  that  they  had  no  other  alter- 
native than  to  wear  Scriptural  names,  as  every 
other  movement  before  them  had  tried  to  do,  but 
afterwards  yielded  to  popular  demand. 

The  best  of  men  will  look  at  things  differently, 
and  the  present  divisions  of  Christendom  furnish 
a  very  practical  illustration  of  it.    Many  good 


no  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

men  among  the  Baptists,  Presbyterians  and 
others  misunderstood  Campbell.  His  Reforma- 
tion would  not  have  been  in  bitterness  in  this  day. 
It  was  a  part  of  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Errors 
were  deeply  rooted  and  prejudice  was  strong.  It 
is  always  difficult  for  a  reformer  to  make  himself 
understood.  His  view-point  is  new  and  few  have 
climbed  to  the  heights  with  him. 

It  was  so  with  Campbell.  His  message  was 
new.  He  avoided  the  terminology  of  the  schools 
and  spoke  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  and  his 
simplicity  in  many  instances  was  a  hindrance 
rather  than  a  help.  In  discussions,  he  never 
used  the  word  Trinity,"  but  when  speaking  of 
God  and  Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  was  al- 
ways careful  to  use  Scriptural  phrases — not  that 
he  did  not  believe  in  the  Trinity,  for  he  was  a 
Trinitarian,  but  he  contended  that  the  doctrine 
was  a  matter  of  the  schools.  Said  he  :  "I  have 
been  asked  a  thousand  times,  '  What  do  you 
think  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity — what  do  you 
think  of  the  Trinity  ?  '  Some — nay,  many  think 
that  to  falter  here  is  terrible  ;  that  to  doubt  here, 
or  not  to  speak  in  the  language  of  the  schools,  is 
the  worst  of  all  errors  and  heresies.  I  have  not 
spent,  perhaps,  an  hour  in  ten  years  in  thinking 
about  the  Trinity.  It  is  no  term  of  mine.  It  is  a 
word  which  belongs  not  to  the  Bible  in  any 
translation  of  it  I  ever  saw.  I  teach  nothing,  I 
say  nothing,  I  think  nothing  about  it,  save  that 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ   1 1 1 

it  is  not  a  Scriptural  term  and  consequently  can 
have  no  Scriptural  idea  attached  to  it.  But  I 
discover  that  the  Trinitarians,  Unitarians  and  the 
simple  Arians  are  always  in  the  field  upon  this 
subject  and  that  the  more  they  contend,  the  less 
they  know  about  it." 

He  was  generally  misunderstood  regarding 
conversion.  To  him,  unless  a  change  of  heart 
was  accomplished  through  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  it  was  no  conversion  at  all,  but  because  he 
unmercifully  drove  out  of  court  all  evidence  of 
experience  based  on  dreams  and  voices  and 
sounds  and  feeling,  they  accused  him  of  teaching 
only  head  religion.  But  to  him  the  better  experi- 
ence was  as  Paul  said :  "  Faith  cometh  by  hearing," 
by  hearing  the  testimony  of  the  Gospel,  and  believ- 
ing it,  the  evidence  was,  first,  a  public  confession 
of  it,  for  "  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto 
righteousness  ;  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is 
made  unto  salvation  "  ;  and,  second,  obedience  is 
the  proof  of  that  love,  for  Jesus  said  :  "  If  ye  love 
Me,  keep  My  commandments" — not  alone  bap- 
tism, but  all  that  He  commanded.  The  evidence 
of  the  reason  for  the  hope  is  based  upon  the 
Scriptures.  Campbell  said :  "  I  cannot,  there- 
fore, make  any  one  duty  the  standard  of  Chris- 
tian state  or  character,  not  even  immersion  into 
the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  in  my  heart  regard  all  that  have 
been    sprinkled  in  infancy,  without  their  own 


112  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

knowledge  or  consent,  as  aliens  from  Christ  and 
the  well-grounded  hope  of  heaven. 
Should  I  find  a  pedo-baptist  more  intelligent  in 
the  Christian  Scriptures,  more  spiritually  minded 
and  more  devoted  to  the  Lord  than  a  Baptist  or 
one  immersed  on  a  profession  of  the  ancient  faith, 
I  could  not  hesitate  a  moment  in  giving  the  pref- 
erence of  my  heart  to  him  that  loveth  most.  Did 
I  act  otherwise,  I  would  be  a  pure  sectarian,  a 
Pharisee  among  Christians." 

He  was  also  misunderstood  on  baptism  and 
was  charged  with  teaching  baptismal  regenera- 
tion, when  he  was  further  from  that  doctrine  than 
either  the  Baptists  or  those  pedo-baptists.  who 
accused  him  of  it,  for  he  taught  that  no  person 
should  be  baptized  unless  he  had  publicly 
avowed  his  faith — not  in  a  doctrine,  but  in  the 
living  Sonship  and  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  which 
was  an  unheard-of  thing  in  those  days.  Preced- 
ing every  baptism  must  be  faith,  repentance  and 
confession.  Then  instead  of  going  into  defini- 
tions and  speaking  in  the  language  of  the  schools, 
he  quoted  the  Scriptures  :  "  Repent,  and  be  bap- 
tized every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  "Whytar- 
riest  thou  ?  arise  and  be  baptized,  and  wash 
away  thy  sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
"As  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into 
Christ  have  put  on  Christ."    Sinners  believed 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ   1 13 

and  were  baptized,  while  men  acquainted  with 
the  language  of  the  schools  went  away  con- 
founded, saying,  "  We  never  saw  it  on  this  fash- 
ion." 

On  other  points  there  were  real  differences. 
Regarding  the  Old  Testament,  he  taught  as  Paul 
affirmed  :  "  The  law  was  our  schoolmaster  to 
bring  us  unto  Christ,  that  we  might  be  justified 
by  faith.  But  after  that  faith  is  come,  we  are  no 
longer  under  a  schoolmaster  " — not  that  the  Old 
Testament  was  not  to  be  read  or  studied,  but  he 
denied  it  as  authoritative  in  the  Christian  life, 
where  Christ  alone  is  supreme.  From  this  many 
averred. 

Likewise  on  the  design  of  baptism,  he  taught 
in  the  language  of  the  Scriptures  that  it  is  "for 
the  remission  of  sins" — not  baptism  alone  ;  but, 
with  the  antecedents  of  faith  and  repentance,  it 
becomes  the  culminating  act  on  the  part  of  the 
sinner  to  the  covenant  of  salvation.  Man  needs 
it  to  know  of  his  forgiveness,  but  God's  forgive- 
ness far  exceeds  man's  knowledge,  and  so  he 
said :  "I  do  not  make  baptism  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  salvation  in  any  case."  And  further : 
"  There  is  no  rejection  of  the  ordinance  of  bap- 
tism by  sprinkled  persons  ;  but  a  mistake  of  what 
it  is."  Baptism  is  a  symbolic  ordinance  and 
marks  the  culmination  of  the  sinner's  conversion 
to  God.    Likewise  from  this  many  averred. 

Although  a  moderate  Calvinist,  Campbell  op- 


114  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

posed  making  any  system  of  theology  a  test  of 
fellowship,  affirming  that  faith  in  Christ  and 
obedience  to  Him  as  revealed  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  all  sufficient,  so  he  was  hostile  against 
all  creeds  and  confessions.  Their  tendency  was 
to  displace  Christ  and  the  Bible  and  they  neither 
converted  sinners  nor  sanctified  saints.  At  the 
same  time  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  all  com- 
munions in  those  days  was  that  creeds  were 
necessities,  although  against  the  heresies  of 
Phygellus,  Hermogenes,  Philetus,  Hymenaeus 
and  Alexander,  no  Scriptural  precedent  of  a 
creed  or  confession  was  left  us. 

In  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  too,  there  was 
a  difference.  It  was  the  common  notion  that  the 
sinner  was  powerless  to  believe  except  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  coming  in  answer  to  prayer  and  regenerat- 
ing the  soul,  enabling  it  to  turn  to  God,  but 
Campbell  taught  that  the  sinner  has  the  power 
to  believe  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit  operates 
through  the  word,  giving  the  testimony  for  faith, 
hence  the  propriety  of  the  command,  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature." 

He  also  advocated  the  weekly  observance  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  After  all,  the  Campbells 
differed  but  little  with  the  orthodox  conception 
of  the  religion  of  this  day.  Their  Reformation 
dealt  with  the  practical  phases  of  Christianity 
rather   than   the  theoretical.    These  were  the 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ   1 1 5 

chief  misunderstandings  and  differences,  how- 
ever, but  the  greatest  difference,  greater  than  all 
these  combined,  was  his  uncompromising  catho- 
licity, against  which  the  narrow  sectarianism  of 
his  day  severely  revolted. 

Bossuet  acknowledges  in  his  "  Variations  of  the 
Protestant  Churches"  the  crying  need  of  refor- 
mation in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  preceding 
the  sixteenth  century,  but  he  was  unwilling  for  it 
to  be  done  by  Martin  Luther  opening  wide  the 
Bible  to  the  masses,  when  how  else  could  it  have 
been  done  except  by  an  open  Bible  ?  The  Roman 
Catholics  claim  that  Luther's  speech  was  coarse, 
but  perhaps  it  was  necessary  in  order  to  w^ake  up 
an  age  whose  coarseness  had  driven  the  Bible 
into  cloisters  and  chained  it  to  pulpit  desks. 

Jeter  and  others  acknowledged  the  need  of  a 
reformation  in  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  but  many  of  them  were  conscientiously 
blind  to  the  only  possibility  of  that  reformation, 
which  was  to  be  accomplished  by  fearlessly  call- 
ing men  back  to  the  open  Bible,  which  had  be- 
come covered  with  all  manner  of  systems  of 
theology.  If  Campbell's  assaults  were  sharp 
and  merciless,  and  that  they  were  was  a  neces- 
sity, it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  language 
of  prophets  and  reformers  is  sometimes  neces- 
sarily severe  and  extreme.  It  could  not  be 
otherwise.  Stone  wrote  him  in  1827  :  "  We 
confess  our  fear  that  in  some  of  your  well-in- 


1 16  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

tended  aims  at  error  you  have  unintentionally 
wounded  the  truth."  Be  that  so  or  not,  one 
thing  is  sure  and  that  is  that  smaller  men  follow- 
ing Campbell's  example  in  their  assaults  fre- 
quently did  it  in  such  uncouth  fashion  that  the 
message  of  the  Disciples  sometimes  appeared 
coarse  and  legalistic.  The  abuse  of  a  revolu- 
tion is  always  found  in  this  extreme  tendency 
which  sometimes  has  overturned  the  principles 
for  which  the  revolution  stood. 

The  history  of  the  Disciples  began  amid  chaos. 
The  Campbells  were  men  of  peace.  Thomas 
never  dreamed  of  anything  else  but  a  harmoni- 
ous progress  until  all  Christendom  would  come 
under  the  absolute  authority  of  Christ,  but  in- 
stead of  peace,  everywhere  was  a  state  of  war 
and  with  the  leadership  upon  his  shoulders, 
Alexander  sat  as  a  willing  listener  in  the  councils 
of  his  brethren.  Other  than  the  organizations 
of  the  local  Churches  with  a  plurality  of  elders 
and  deacons  on  the  New  Testament  model,  they 
had  no  ecclesiastical  form  of  government  to  bind 
them  together,  and  the  whole  movement  was 
marked  by  an  intense  individualism,  sometimes 
as  extreme  as  that  taught  by  Rousseau  in  his 
"Social  Contract"  with  its  cry  against  govern- 
ments and  conventions  and  a  plea  for  primitive 
simplicity. 

Seventy-five  years  before,  Rousseau's  thought 
was  first  in  the  European  mind  and  out  of  it 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ   1 1 7 

came  the  French  Revolution  and  the  downfall  of 
the  last  remnant  of  the  medieval  system.  That 
thought  still  pervaded  both  the  political  and 
religious  atmosphere  not  only  of  America,  but  of 
the  world,  and  doubtless  was  an  unconscious 
factor  in  the  early  history  of  the  Disciples,  for  in 
breaking  away  from  creeds  and  ecclesiastical 
authority,  they  became  the  leaders  of  a  revolu- 
tion, and  for  a  time  this  individualism  looked  as 
though  it  would  be  their  destruction.  Their 
religious  neighbours  mocked  and  predicted 
failure  of  an  attempt  to  hold  together  the 
Churches  without  a  creed  or  some  ecclesiastical 
authority. 

Was  the  movement  practical?  Would  it 
work  ?  To  the  Disciples  it  was  a  greater  prob- 
lem than  applied  to  themselves.  They  were  ask- 
ing in  their  own  hearts.  Will  the  principles  of 
Protestantism  work?  Can  the  Bible  be  made 
the  sole  authority  in  religion  with  the  right  of 
private  interpretation  ?  It  had  never  been  done 
before,  for  the  creeds  as  tests  of  fellowship  were 
the  living  witnesses  against  the  right  of  private 
interpretation.  To  the  Disciples,  it  was  even 
more  than  having  to  do  with  the  principles  of 
Protestantism.  They  were  asking,  Can  Chris- 
tianity stand  alone  with  only  Christ  and  the 
Scriptures?  This  appeared  to  have  been  the 
first  order  of  the  Church.  Why  might  it  not  be 
so  again  ?    Is  He  not  sufficient  for  all  our  need  ? 


1 1 8  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

It  was  a  time  of  deep  concern.  They  diUgently 
studied  their  Bibles  and  prayed  and  looked  to  the 
leadership  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  under  whose  min- 
istry they  recognized  the  Church  was  living  as 
distinctly  as  the  apostles  lived  under  the  personal 
ministry  of  Jesus. 

Ill 

New  men  came  to  the  front.  Walter  Scott,  a 
Presbyterian,  educated  in  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, came  to  America  in  1818  and  identified 
himself  with  a  Haldanean  Church  in  Pittsburgh. 
Later  this  Church  and  a  Baptist  Church  united. 
In  1820,  he  met  Campbell  and  threw  himself 
without  reserve  into  the  Reformation.  To  him 
it  has  been  said  is  due  the  rediscovery  of  baptism 
*'  for  the  remission  of  sins."  In  1827,  he  attended 
the  Mahoning  Baptist  Association  and  was  ap- 
pointed its  evangelist.  He  became  indeed  the 
evangel  of  the  burning  torch  and  crowds  hung 
on  his  ministry  as  he  unfolded  to  them  in  their 
order:  going,  preaching,  believing,  repenting, 
baptism,  salvation.  Holy  Spirit  and  condemna- 
tion for  the  unbeUeving.  He  made  the  book  of 
Acts  a  commentary  on  the  Gospels  and  the 
charge  of  limiting  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
the  word  was  never  made  against  him.  To  him 
as  much  as  to  the  Campbells  belongs  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  Reformation. 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ   1 19^ 

Another  unusual  man  was  Robert  Richardson, 
scholar,  educator  and  biographer  of  Alexander 
Campbell.  He  was  deeply  devotional  and  wrote 
a  work  of  merit  on  "  The  Office  of  the  Holy 
Spirit "  in  developing  true  piety.  Thomas 
Campbell  was  still  giving  his  gentle  life  in  ap- 
peals for  union,  but  conditions  were  forcing 
Alexander  for  a  time  to  give  more  attention  to 
the  restoration  of  "  the  ancient  order  of  things," 
as  it  was  called,  than  to  Christian  union  and,  be- 
cause of  his  great  personality,  the  movement  un- 
consciously began  shifting  from  its  original  basis 
to  the  restoration  of  primitive  Christianity,  which 
continued  so  in  the  main  until  the  opening  of  the 
twentieth  century — not  that  the  vision  of  a  united 
Christendom  was  lost,  for  later  Campbell,  appar- 
ently conscious  of  the  shift  of  basis,  said  :  "  The 
conversion  of  the  world  is  planned  and  ordered 
by  the  will  of  heaven  to  be  dependent  upon  the 
unity  of  the  disciples  as  well  as  this  unity  de- 
pendent upon  the  apostles'  testimony."  Res- 
toration therefore  became  the  key-note. 

Through  the  wide  distribution  of  the  Millennial 
Harbinger,  congregations  after  the  "  ancient  or- 
der" were  found  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland 
and  Australia,  as  well  as  in  the  American  cities, 
along  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  many  of  these 
reached  back  before  Thomas  Campbell  wrote  his 
"  Declaration  and  Address  "  or  Barton  W.  Stone 
wrote  his  "  Last  Will  and  Testament."    A  com- 


120  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

men  purpose  now  bound  ,them  into  general  fel- 
lowship, so  that  the  Disciples  almost  at  once  had 
thousands  in  their  membership  in  all  parts  of  :he 
English-speaking  world. 

By  1835*  a  union  with  the  Christians  under 
Stone  was  effected.  On  a  tour  to  Kentucky  in 
1824,  Campbell  met  Stone  and  while  differing  in 
some  ^points,  they  agreed  in  their  general  pur- 
pose and  Campbell  and  Stone  became  true 
friends,  which  is  always  the  beginning  and  the 
only  beginning  of  real  union  of  any  kind.  The 
prejudice  against  the  Christians  on  the  part  of 
the  Disciples  was  that  they  leaned  towards  Uni- 
tarian theology  regarding  Christ,  that  they  did 
not  keep  the  Lord's  Supper  weekly  and  that  while 
Stone  and  most  of  those  associated  with  him  had 
been  baptized  by  immersion,  yet  it  was  not  con- 
sidered as  always  necessary  to  Church-member- 
ship. The  prejudice  against  the  Disciples  was 
that  they  limited  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
the  written  word  and  that  Campbell  himself  was 
not  sufficiently  explicit  on  the  influence  of  the 
Spirit.  Besides,  with  the  Christians  the  predom- 
inating idea  was  the  uniting  of  men  under  Christ 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  while  the  pre- 
dominating idea  among  the  Disciples  had  be- 
come "  the  desire  of  an  exact  conformity  to  the 
primitive  faith  and  practice "  as  the  way  to 
union.  In  a  prayerful  conference  at  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky,  under  the  leadership  of  Stone 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  121 

for  the  Christians  and  John  Smith  for  the  Dis- 
ciples, it  was  found  that  the  prejudices  were 
based  largely  upon  misrepresentation  and,  where 
there  were  differences  of  opinion,  as  for  instance 
whether  the  name  Christian  or  Disciple  should 
be  adopted,  the  right  of  private  opinion  was  to 
prevail. 

Both  sides  stood  for  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ  as 
the  only  begotten  Son  of  God  and  obedience  to 
His  commandments.  Neither  party  had  surren- 
dered to  the  other,  but  both  were  helped,  for  the 
evangelistic  spirit  of  the  Christians  gave  an  im- 
petus to  the  Disciples,  while  the  careful  study  of 
the  Scriptures  on  the  part  of  the  Disciples  proved 
a  stimulus  to  the  Christians.  It  took  several 
years  for  the  union  to  be  effected  after  the  de- 
cision of  the  leaders  and  even  then  some  of 
Stone's  associates  refused  to  go  into  it  and  are 
to  this  day  separated  from  the  Disciples,  being 
known,  however,  as  the  Christians.  They  cen- 
sured Stone  for  lending  his  influence  to  the  union, 
to  which  he  replied :  "  What  else  could  we  do, 
the  Bible  being  our  directory?  .  ,  ,  They 
held  the  name  Christian  as  sacred  as  we  did — 
they  were  equally  averse  to  making  opinions  the 
test  of  fellowship — and  equally  solicitous  for  the 
salvation  of  souls.  This  union,  irrespective  of  re- 
proach, I  view  as  the  noblest  act  of  my  life." 

The  Virginia  Constitutional  Convention  of  1829 
called  together  the  most  distinguished  men  of 


122  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

the  commonwealth.  West  Virginia  at  that  time 
being  a  part  of  Virginia,  Alexander  Campbell 
was  elected  to  that  convention  and  sat  with 
Former  President  James  Madison,  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  and  others, 
and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  foremost  men  in 
the  discussion.  Of  him  Madison  said :  "  It  was 
my  pleasure  to  hear  him  very  often  as  a  preacher 
of  the  Gospel  and  I  regard  him  as  the  ablest  and 
most  original  expounder  of  the  Scriptures  I  have 
ever  heard." 

That  same  year,  he  had  a  public  debate  in 
Cincinnati  with  Robert  Owen,  of  Lanark,  Scot- 
land, who  styled  himself  "an  open  and  decided 
opponent  of  Christianity."  Owen  made  a  tour 
of  the  American  cities,  proclaiming  his  new  doc- 
trine for  social  betterment  and  declared  all  relig- 
ions a  superstition  and  a  hindrance  to  progress. 
From  New  Orleans,  he  challenged  the  American 
ministry  for  the  defense  of  Christianity.  None 
responding,  finally  Campbell  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge. For  nine  days  those  two  giants  wrestled 
in  combat  and  one  of  Campbell's  defenses  of 
Christianity  extended  through  twelve  hours, 
equaUing  the  apologies  of  Origen  or  Tertullian. 
Owen  said  of  him :  "  That  which  I  admire  in  him 
above  all  else  is  his  downright  honesty  and  fair- 
ness to  which  he  believes  to  be  the  cause  of 
truth.  .  ,  .  This  is  a  straightforward  pro- 
ceeding in  the  investigation  of  truth,  which  I 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  123 

have  long  sought  for,  but  which,  until  now,  I 
have  sought  in  vain." 

In  1837,  in  Cincinnati,  he  met  in  public  debate 
Archbishop  John  B.  Purcell,  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  in  defense  of  Protestantism, 
and  Purcell  acknowledged  his  defense  to  have 
been  the  ablest  he  had  ever  heard.  In  1843,  in 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  he  met  in  debate  for  eight- 
een days  N.  L.  Rice,  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  defense  of  Christian  baptism  by  im- 
mersion of  penitent  believers,  over  which  Henry 
Clay  presided,  and  nothing  new  has  been  said 
on  either  side  of  that  subject  since.  Numerous 
other  debates  were  held  and  Campbell  always 
stood  his  ground  like  a  master,  yet  he  cared  little 
for  debates.  His  own  taste  was  other  than  con- 
troversy and  he  never  allowed  it  to  come  in  his 
sermons  and  advised  his  brethren  against  ever 
using  their  pulpits  for  controversy. 

On  his  tours  crowds  gathered  and  legislatures 
adjourned  to  hear  him.  On  a  visit  to  Washing- 
ton in  1829,  both  houses  of  Congress  adjourned, 
and  he  spoke  for  two  hours  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  to  the  lawmakers  of  the  nation. 
Of  him  George  D.  Prentice,  editor  of  the  Louis- 
ville Courier  Journal,  wrote  :  "  Alexander  Camp- 
bell is  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  extraordi- 
nary men  of  our  times.  Putting  wholly  out  of  view 
his  tenets,  with  which  of  course  we  have  nothing 
to  do,  he  claims,  by  virtue  of  his  intrinsic  qualities, 


1 24  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

as  manifested  in  his  achievements,  a  place  among 
the  foremost  spirits  of  our  age.  His  energy, 
self-reliance  and  self-fidelity,  if  we  may  use  the 
expression,  are  of  the  stamp  that  belongs  only  to 
the  world's  first  leaders  in  thought  and  action. 
His  personal  excellence  is  certainly  without  a 
stain  or  shadow.  His  intellect,  it  is  scarcely  too 
much  to  say,  is  among  the  clearest,  richest,  pro- 
foundest  ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  .  .  .  Surely 
the  life  of  a  man  thus  excellent  and  gifted  is  a 
part  of  the  common  treasure  of  society.  In  his 
essential  character  he  belongs  to  no  sect  or  party, 
but  to  the  world." 

General  Robert  E.  Lee  applied  to  him  the 
words  that  Dr.  Symonds  applied  to  John  Milton  : 
"  He  was  a  man  in  whom  were  illustriously  com- 
bined all  the  qualities  that  could  adorn  or  elevate 
the  nature  to  which  he  belonged ;  knowledge  the 
most  various  and  extended,  virtue  that  never 
loitered  in  her  career  nor  deviated  from  her 
course.  A  man  who,  if  he  had  been  delegated 
as  a  representative  of  his  species  to  one  of  the 
many  superior  worlds,  would  have  suggested  a 
grand  idea  of  the  human  race."  Bishop  John  E. 
Hurst  said  "  that  for  a  generation  his  name  was 
a  tower  of  strength  over  the  whole  United  States, 
He  was  a  man  of  pure  character  and  the  highest 
consecration.  He  leavened  the  whole  country 
with  his  views."  A  writer  in  the  New  York 
Independent  affirmed  that  there  is  not  a  religious 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ   1 25 

body  in  Christendom  that,  whether  it  will  confess 
it  or  not,  has  not  been  profoundly  affected  by  the 
life  and  work  of  Alexander  Campbell. 

In  1866,  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus,  saying  as  the  light 
of  the  eternal  morning  softly  stole  over  him  :  "  His 
name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  The 
Mighty  God,  The  Everlasting  Father,  The  Prince 
of  Peace."  Barton  W.  Stone,  Thomas  Campbell, 
Walter  Scott  and  others  associated  with  them 
had  likewise  finished  their  labours,  and  the 
Disciples  numbered  a  membership  of  perhaps 
400,000  persons.  This  is  made  more  remarkable 
when  it  is  remembered  that  an  isolated  but  beau- 
tiful spot  in  the  mountains  of  West  Virginia  was 
the  basis']  of  operations,  which  suited  then  for 
such  a  cause  about  as  well  as  the  mountains  of 
Wyoming  would  suit  now. 

The  early  Disciples  were  so  diligent  in  their 
loyalty  to  the  New  Testament  plan  of  salvation  that 
they  appeared  to  have  entirely  overlooked  the  New 
Testament  geography,  from  which  it  is  learned 
that  Jesus  did  not  make  the  mountains  of  Judaea 
the  basis  of  His  operations,  nor  did  Paul  make 
the  mountains  of  Asia  Minor  the  basis  of  his 
operations.  They  visited  those  regions,  but  both 
put  most  of  their  ministries  in  the  cities — Jesus 
in  the  cities  of  Palestine  and  Paul  in  the  cities  of 
the  Roman  empire,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
great  numbers  of  people  were  there.  Not  that 
city  people  are  worse  than  country  people,  for 


]  26  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

perhaps  their  piety  is  about  the  same,  but  vast 

multitudes  make  up  the  cities.  Had  Campbell 
and  his  colabourers  made  their  headquarters  in 
some  of  the  great  Eastern  cities  and  worked 
through  the  rural  districts  as  did  Jesus  and  Paul, 
the  number  of  the  Disciples  would  have  been 
doubled  if  not  quadrupled,  for  spiritual  restless- 
ness was  as  evident  in  the  great  cities  then  as 
in  the  rural  districts,  and  besides,  cities  always 
have  been  and  always  will  be  the  ruling  seat  of 
nations.  That  provincial  policy  gave  a  provin- 
cialism to  the  early  history  of  the  Disciples  from 
which  in  many  quarters  there  has  not  been  a 
complete  recovery. 

In  his  able  editorship  of  the  Christian  Standard^ 
Cincinnati,  which  had  its  beginning  in  1866, 
Isaac  Errett  gave  widening  lines  to  the  advanc- 
ing movement.  Benjamin  Franklin,  editor  of 
the  American  Christian  Review,  likewise  Cincin- 
nati, stood  more  for  legalistic  interpretation,  and 
all  the  way  between  these  were  strong  characters, 
consecrated  men,  who  were  thinking  and  preach- 
ing and  writing,  and  others  that  followed  them. 
John  T.  Johnson,  twice  elected  to  Congress  and 
for  a  time  in  the  Kentucky  judiciary,  was  in  the 
foremost  rank  of  the  best  preachers.  There  was 
Moses  E.  Lard,  preacher,  editor  and  author ; 
Robert  Milligan,  educator,  editor,  author  and 
preacher  ;  John  Allen  Gano,  preacher  ;  Tolbert 
Fanning,  editor  and  preacher ;  H.  W  Everest, 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  127 

preacher,  author  and  educator;  W.  K.  Pendle- 
ton, educator,  editor  and  preacher ;  J.  W.  Mc- 
Garvey,  educator,  author  and  preacher ;  J.  H. 
Garrison,  editor,  author  and  preacher ;  the  Rogers 
and  the  Creaths  and  others  in  the  middle  west 
standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  these,  and  in 
Virginia,  Goss,  Coleman,  Hopson,  Abell,  Ainslie, 
Dearborn,  Shelbourne,  Bullard,  Tyler  and  others, 
and  so  on  in  other  sections  of  the  country.  The 
Disciples  have  been  largely  a  rural  people,  but 
some  of  their  preachers  have  made  city  pulpits 
extend  beyond  their  parishes  for  the  message  of 
concord — ministries  like  those  of  F.  D.  Power's 
in  Washington,  E.  L.  Powell's  in  Louisville  and 
B.  B.  Tyler's  in  New  York. 

IV 

The  leaders  among  the  Disciples  were  edu- 
cated men  and  they  saw  the  need  of  schools.  In 
1836,  Bacon  College  was  started  in  Kentucky. 
Among  its  presidents  was  James  Shannon,  who 
afterwards  became  president  of  the  University  of 
Missouri,  and  Bacon  College,  after  some  changes 
and  consolidations,  is  now  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity at  Lexington,  Kentucky.  To  Alexander 
Campbell  the  Bible  should  be  the  basis  of  all  edu- 
cation, and  art,  science  and  literature  should  be 
made  tributary  to  that  Book,  for  moral  character 
is  an  essential  part  of  education,  so  in  1841  he 


1 28  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

founded  Bethany  College  at  his  home  in  Brooke 
County,  West  Virginia,  and,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  made  the  Bible  a  text- 
book, like  any  other  book  in  a  college  curriculum, 
against  which  came  violent  protests  from  colleges 
and  journals  of  other  communions  charging  him 
with  sacrilege  and  infidelity. 

In  1850,  Butler  College  at  Indianapolis,  In- 
diana, and  Hiram  College,  twenty  miles  out  from 
Cleveland,  were  started.  Over  the  latter  James 
A.  Garfield  was  the  second  president,  afterwards 
being  the  twentieth  president  of  the  United 
States.  Eureka  College,  Illinois,  was  founded  in 
1855.  Through  the  munificence  of  F  M.  Drake, 
governor  of  Iowa,  Drake  University  had  its  be- 
ginning in  1 88 1.  Texas  Christian  University 
was  started  in  1873  and  from  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  their  colleges  are  scattered  over  the 
continent  to  Oregon  and  California,  numbering 
in  all  over  forty.  Besides,  hosts  of  their  men  are 
filling  important  posts  in  American  universities 
and  other  institutions  of  learning 

In  literary  work,  their  contributions  have  been 
largely  polemic  in  character — perhaps  too  much 
so,  for  their  own  good  and  the  good  of  others, 
but  from  the  beginning  of  their  movement  there 
has  been  no  lack  of  literature — journals  weekly, 
monthly  and  quarterly  and  books  setting  forth 
their  message  to  the  world.  In  journals  at  this 
time,  the  Christian  Century,  Chicago,  is  the  voice 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ   1 29 

of  the  extreme  progressives,  while  the  Gospel  Ad- 
vocate, Nashville,  Tennessee,  represents  the  ex- 
treme legalistic  phase  of  the  movement,  and  the 
Christian- Evangelist,  St.  Louis,  and  the  Chris- 
tian Standard,  Cincinnati,  fall  in  between  these. 
Alexander  Campbell  left  sixty  volumes  with  his 
name  on  their  title  pages.  J.  T.  Barclay's  "  City 
of  the  Great  King  "  is  a  standard  work  on  the 
history  of  Jerusalem,  as  is  J.  W.  McGarvey's 
"  Land  of  the  Bible  "  on  Palestine,  also  his  "  Com- 
mentary on  Acts"  is  among  the  best  commen- 
taries on  that  section  of  the  New  Testament. 
Other  books  are  Errett's  "  Evenings  With  the 
Bible,"  MilHgan's  "Scheme  of  Redemption," 
Lamar's  "  First  Principles,"  Everest's  "  Divine 
Demonstration,"  Willett's  "Teachings  of  the 
Book,"  Kershner's  "  Religion  of  Christ,"  Garri- 
son's "  Alone  with  God,"  and  five  hundred  other 
volumes  that  make  in  part  the  writings  of  the 
Disciples. 

David  S.  Burnett  was  the  leader  among  the 
Disciples  for  cooperative  missionary  work.  In 
1845  he  organized  the  American  Christian  Bible 
Society  with  headquarters  in  Cincinnati,  he  be- 
ing its][first  president.  Its  object  was  "  to  aid  in 
the  distribution  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  with- 
out note  or  comment,  among  all  nations."  This 
proved  to  be  a  step  towards  a  national  mission- 
ary organization,  so  in  1849  the  first  national 
missionary  convention  of  the  Disciples  convened 


130  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

in  Cincinnati  and  organized  the  American  Chris- 
tian Missionary  Society,  of  which  Alexander 
Campbell  was  the  president  for  twenty-six  years, 
and  the  other  next  longest  in  the  presidency  was 
R.  M.  Bishop,  governor  of  Ohio.  This  society 
has  its  headquarters  in  Cincinnati  and,  as  its 
name  indicates,  is  confined  to  missionary  work 
in  America.  Since  its  organization,  it  has  estab- 
Hshed  3,900  congregations  and  added  through  its 
missionaries  192,500  persons  to  the  Churches. 
Last  year  they  had  nearly  500  missionaries  in 
the  field. 

In  1874,  the  women's  missionary  work  was 
started  under  the  title  of  the  Christian  Woman's 
Board  of  Missions  with  headquarters  in  Indian- 
apolis. This  organization  does  both  home  and 
foreign  work.  They  have  259  workers  in  Can- 
ada, New  Zealand,  Jamaica,  India,  Mexico,  Porto 
Rico,  South  America  and  Africa,  and  with  177 
in  the  United  States,  making  a  total  of  436 
workers  sustained  entirely  or  in  part  by  this 
board,  which  also  supports  forty-two  schools  in 
the  foreign  field  and  four  mountain  schools  in 
America,  having  in  all  6,000  pupils  enrolled.  It 
has  established  five  Bible  chairs  at  as  many  state 
universities,  besides  the  College  of  Missions  at 
Indianapolis,  which  is  a  training  school  for  mis- 
sionaries preparatory  to  their  going  abroad,  em- 
phasizing the  higher  standard  as  expressed  in 
the  Edinburgh  conference,  so  that  their  students 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  131 

are  missionary  specialists.  They  also  have  five 
orphanages  in  foreign  lands,  with  nearly  500 
children  under  their  care  and  five  hospitals 
where  97,880  patients  were  treated  last  year. 
The  work  among  the  Negroes  is  under  their  con- 
trol with  six  schools  in  the  South. 

In  1875,  the  Foreign  Christian  Missionary  So- 
ciety was  started  with  headquarters  in  Cincinnati, 
the  first  president  being  Charles  Louis  Loos,  pres- 
ident of  Transylvania  University,  who  perhaps 
more  than  any  other  man  of  his  day  approached 
that  catholicity  of  spirit  that  so  characterized  the 
Campbells.  A.  McLean  and  F.  M.  Rains  have 
been  the  missionary  apostles  among  the  Disciples, 
and  this  society  supports  1 74  American  mission- 
aries in  China,  Japan,  India,  Korea,  Philippines, 
Tibet,  Africa,  Cuba,  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark 
and  England,  with  ninety-five  schools  having 
more  than  5,000  in  attendance  and  with  twenty- 
four  hospitals,  where  157,988  patients  were 
treated  last  year.  In  1878,  they  sent  W.  T. 
Moore  to  England  and  through  the  liberality  of 
Timothy  Coop,  of  Southport,  he  established  the 
Christian  Commonwealth  in  London. 

In  1886,  the  National  Benevolent  Association 
was  organized  with  headquarters  in  St.  Louis. 
It  has  under  its  control  eleven  institutions,  in- 
cluding six  orphanages,  four  homes  for  the  aged 
and  one  hospital,  with  immediate  preparations 
for  several  others.    In  1888,  the  Board  of  Church 


132    The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

Extension  was  organized,  with  headquarters  in 
Kansas  City,  and  they  have  now  a  million  dollar 
fund  with  which  they  have  aided  in  erecting 
1,531  Church  buildings.  G.  W,  Muckley  is  its 
guiding  genius.  In  1908,  R.  A.  Long,  a  wealthy 
layman  of  Kansas  City,  established  the  Chris- 
tian Board  of  Publication  in  St.  Louis  and 
there  are  national  boards  of  Ministerial  Relief, 
Education,  Temperance,  Sunday-schools,  Chris- 
tian Endeavour  and  all  other  necessities  for  busi- 
ness in  the  Church.  These  make  their  reports 
in  a  non-legislative  national  convention  which 
meets  annually.  Besides  each  state  has  an  an- 
nual convention.  In  some  instances  the  states  are 
subdivided  into  districts  and  the  smaller  states 
are  combined  into  one  convention.  At  the 
Louisville  convention  of  19 12,  definite  steps 
were  taken  to  organize  the  national  conven- 
tion on  a  delegate  basis,  naming  it  the  "  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  Churches  of  Christ." 


V 

In  1909,  the  Disciples  celebrated  in  Pitts- 
burgh the  centennial  of  Thomas  Campbell's 
Declaration  and  Address — not  the  centennial  of 
the  Disciples,  but  only  the  centennial  of  Camp- 
bell's document  for  ecclesiastical  independence 
and  Christian  union.  The  Disciples'  centennial 
lies  two  decades  beyond  us.    However,  at  the 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  133 

Pittsburgh  convention,  30,000  people  sat  down 
together  in  Forbes  Field  for  the  observance  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  on  Sunday  afternoon,  but  the 
significant  feature  of  the  centennial  celebration 
was  that  it  registered  the  drift  back  towards 
Christian  union  as  the  chief  mission  of  the  Dis- 
ciples. 

In  1890,  at  the  National  Convention  in  Des 
Moines,  a  standing  committee  on  Church  union 
was  appointed  and  at  the  National  Convention 
of  189 1  at  Allegheny  it  made  an  encouraging 
report.  A  joint  committee  of  Baptists  and  Dis- 
ciples presented  a  report  at  the  National  Con- 
vention at  Richmond,  in  1894,  and  other  events 
have  indicated  the  purpose  of  the  Disciples  until, 
at  the  National  Convention  in  1910,  at  Topeka, 
a  commission  on  Christian  union  was  appointed. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  Disciples  were  ap- 
pointing their  commission  and  without  any 
knowledge  of  what  others  were  doing,  the  Epis- 
copalians in  their  General  Convention  in  Cincin- 
nati and  the  Congregationalists  in  their  National 
Council  in  Boston,  were  appointing  similar  com- 
missions, while  the  Synod  of  the  Dioceses  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  Australia  and  Tasma- 
nia appointed  likewise  at  the  same  time  a  com- 
mittee to  "  watch  for  and,  if  possible,  take 
advantage  of  any  opportunity  which  may  be 
offered  for  further  conference  with  other  relig- 
ious bodies  with  a  view  to  a  better  understanding 


1 34  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

of  our  mutual  position  and  the  furtherance  of 
union  among  Christians."  It  is  the  Holy  Spirit's 
leading  for  the  peace  of  Zion  without  giving  the 
leadership  to  any  special  communion. 

With  a  history  of  eighty  years  and  a  member- 
ship of  1,300,000  the  Disciples  have  not,  however, 
brought  into  full  cooperation  all  that  compose 
their  family.  Some  are  conscientiously  opposed 
to  cooperative  missionary  work  as  done  by  the 
national  societies,  and  with  that  opposition  also 
opposition  to  instrumental  music  in  Churches. 
The  strength  of  these  is  largely  in  Tennessee  and 
Texas.  In  other  instances,  like  in  England,  the 
American  and  English  policies  do  not  always 
harmonize,  and  the  older  Churches  pursue  the 
simpler  methods  with  the  elders  doing  the 
preaching  and  the  minister  serving  as  the  evan- 
gelist for  the  district.  To  these  the  present 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  of  England,  Lloyd 
George,  belongs,  but  the  spirit  of  the  Disciples 
allows  the  widest  liberty  in  methods.  Its  test 
is  Jesus  Christ  and  obedience  to  Him.  Their 
message  has  found  friends  among  all  classes 
and  races — the  man  at  the  plow  and  the  scien- 
tist in  the  laboratory,  the  mechanic  and  the 
scholar,  the  Caucasian  and  the  Mongolian. 
Their  men  have  sat  in  the  presidential  chair 
of  the  nation  and  in  the  cabinet,  on  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and 
in  both  branches  of  Congress,  in  state  judicia- 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  135 

ries  and  servants  in  every  department  of  public 
life.  They  have  rendered  worthy  service  to  the 
nations  where  they  have  held  their  citizenship. 

All  things  have  their  danger  side,  not  neces- 
sarily because  of  the  thing  itself,  but  because  of 
our  common  disposition,  like  the  first  Adam, 
to  taste  of  some  other  fruit  in  the  garden. 
Christianity  itself  has  been  abused  by  depar- 
tures. Locke's  philosophy  was  made  the  way 
to  deism  by  Thomas  Hume  sincerely  seeking 
the  way  for  truth,  while  to  Berkeley  it  became 
the  path  to  the  theory  of  the  non-existence  of 
matter.  Jefferson  sensibly  interpreted  the  teach- 
ings of  Rousseau  in  the  American  Declaration 
of  Independence,  while  Robespierre,  Couthon 
and  Saint-Just  carried  them  to  legalistic  ex- 
tremes in  France  and  precipitated  the  Reign  of 
Terror.  Campbell's  interpretation  of  the  Bible 
has  been  conscientiously  used  by  many  to  lead 
the  way  to  crass  legalism — not  unlike  the  history 
of  the  Franciscans  and  other  religious  move- 
ments in  the  Church.  It  has  always  been  a 
large  element  among  the  Disciples  and  it  has 
unconsciously  produced  exclusiveness  on  their 
part  and  sometimes  unfriendliness  on  the  part 
of  other  communions,  but  the  sky  is  wide  and 
a  new  atmosphere  is  filling  the  world.  Secta- 
rianism is  crumbling,  whether  it  be  among  the 
Disciples  or  other  communions  The  older  men 
have  unselfishly  given  their  lives  to  this  cause 


136  The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ 

as  they  saw  it,  and  every  year  brings  ripening 
conditions. 

The  history  of  all  reformations  has  been  amid 
toils,  anathemas,  heartaches  and  misrepresenta- 
tions. Religious  liberty  and  spirituality  of  wor- 
ship in  every  period  of  history  have  come  up 
through  hardships.  With  the  memory  of  no 
wounds  and  with  that  exquisite  motto  on  the 
Italian  sun-dial :  "I  take  note  only  of  the  shin- 
ing hours,"  the  Disciples  still  have  their  faces  set 
for  the  union  of  the  Church  in  order  that  the 
world  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ.  To 
obtain  closer  access  both  to  His  sacred  heart  and 
to  all  who  believe  in  Him,  the  Bible  must  be  the 
basis  of  our  approach — the  Bible  freed  from  every 
remnant  of  systems  of  theology — and  the  history 
of  the  Disciples  has  no  higher  desire  than  to  be 
a  voice  calling  for  peace  in  the  divided  house  of 
God. 


O  God  of  Peace,  Thou  art  a  witness  to  the 
divisions  in  Thy  house  which  we  have  made  by 
our  constant  quarrels,  and  we  acknowledge  our 
transgression.  Give  us  the  hope  of  the  morning 
by  a  genuine  desire  for  fellowship  with  Thy  whole 
Church,  for  we  are  brothers,  feeling  our  way 
towards  Thee  and  towards  each  other.  Only  in 
Thy  light  can  we  find  the  way.  Without  Thy 
shield  we  are  incompetent  to  render  Thee  service 


The  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  137 

in  the  day  of  battle  and  danger.  Thou  hast 
created  us  in  Thine  image,  redeemed  us  by  Thy 
blood,  made  our  bodies  sanctuaries  for  Thy  Holy 
Spirit,  and  we  desire  that  oneness  among  our- 
selves for  which  Thou  didst  plan  in  the  ages 
past,  even  as  Thou  didst  plan  for  the  gift  of  Thine 
only  begotten  Son.  In  the  spirit  of  humility  and 
faith  we  supplicate  Thee  for  patience,  courtesy 
and  brotherliness.  Then  we  shall  love  in  spite 
of  our  failures  and  we  shall  reach  the  summit  as 
our  brothers  of  other  communions  climb  to  the 
heights.  To  Thee  be  all  the  praise  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


Appendix 


I 


Appendix 


The  Last  Will  and  Testament  of  the 


For  where  a  testament  is,  there  must  of  necessity  be  the  death  of 
the  testator  ;  for  a  testament  is  of  force  after  men  are  dead,  otherwise 
it  is  of  no  strength  at  all,  while  the  testator  liveth.  Thou  fool,  that 
which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die.  Verily,  verily  I 
say  unto  you,  except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground,  and  die,  it 
abideth  alone  ;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.  Whose 
voice  then  shook  the  earth  ;  but  now  He  hath  promised,  saying,  yet 
once  more  I  shake  not  the  earth  only,  but  also  heaven.  And  this 
word,  yet  once  more,  signifies  the  removing  of  those  things  that  are 
shaken  as  of  things  that  are  made,  that  those  things  which  cannot  be 
shaken  may  remain. — Scripture. 

The  Presbytery  of  Springfield,  sitting  at  Cane  Ridge,  in  the 
county  of  Bourbon,  Ky.,  being,  through  a  gracious  Providence,  in 
more  than  ordinary  bodily  health,  growing  in  strength  and  size  daily 
and  in  perfect  soundness  and  composure  of  mind  ;  but  knowing  that 
it  is  appointed  for  all  delegated  bodies  once  to  die  and  considering 
that  the  life  of  every  such  body  is  very  uncertain,  do  make  and  or- 
dain this  our  last  Will  and  Testament,  in  manner  and  form  follow- 
ing, viz.  : 

Imprimis.  We  will  that  this  body  die,  be  dissolved  and  sink 
into  union  with  the  body  of  Christ  at  large ;  for  there  is  but  one 
body  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  we  are  called  in  one  hope  of  our  call- 
ing. 

Item.  We  -will  that  our  name  of  distinction  with  its  Reverend 
title  be  forgotten,  that  there  be  but  one  Lord  over  God's  heritage 
and  his  name  One, 


Springfield 


141 


142      The  Last  Will  and  Testament  of 


Item.  We  will  that  our  power  of  making  laws  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  and  executing  them  by  delegated  authority 
forever  cease,  that  the  people  may  have  free  course  to  the  Bible  and 
adopt  the  Unu  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus.  : 

Item.  We  vjill  that  candidates  for  the  Gospel  ministry  hence- 
forth study  the  Holy  Scriptures  with  fervent  prayer  and  obtain 
license  from  God  to  preach  the  simple  Gospel,  witk  the  Holy  Ghost 
sent  doum  from  heaven,  without  any  mixture  of  philosophy,  vain 
deceit,  traditions  of  men  or  the  rudiments  of  the  world.  And  let 
none  henceforth  taJce  this  honour  to  himself,  but  he  that  is  called  of 
God  as  was  Aaron. 

Item.  We  will  that  the  Church  of  Christ  resume  her  native  right 
of  internal  government — try  her  candidates  for  the  ministry,  as  to 
their  soundness  in  the  faith,  acquaintance  with  experimental  religion, 
gravity  and  aptness  to  teach ;  and  admit  no  other  proof  of  their 
authority  but  Chnst  sjjeaking  in  them.  We  will  that  the  Church  of 
Christ  look  up  to  the  Lord  of  the  har\'est  to  send  forth  labourers  into 
His^harvest ;  and  that  she  resume  her  primitive  right  of  trying  those 
who  say  they  are  apostles  and  are  not. 

Item.  We  will  that  each  particular  Church  as  a  body,  actuated 
by  the  same  spirit,  choose  her  own  preacher  and  support  him  by  a 
free  will  offering,  without  a  written  call  or  subscription,  admit 
members,  remove  offenses,  and  never  henceforth  delegate  her  right 
of  government  to  any  man  or  set  of  men  whatever. 

Item.  We  will  that  the  people  henceforth  take  the  Bible  as  the 
only  sure  guide  to  heaven  ;  and  as  many  as  are  offended  with  other 
books,  which  stand  in  competition  with  it,  may  cast  them  into  the  fire 
if  they  choose,  for  it  is  better  to  enter  into  life  having  one  book 
than  having  many  to  be  cast  into  hell. 

Item.  We  will  that  preachers  and  people  cultivate  a  spirit  of 
mutual  forbearance,  pray  more  and  dispute  less,  and  while  they  be- 
hold the  signs  of  the  times,  look  up  and  confidently  expect  that  re- 
demption draweth  nigh. 

Item.  We  will  that  our  weak  brethren  who  may  have  been  wish- 
ing to  make  the  Presbytery  of  Springfield  their  king  and  wot  not 
what  is  now  become  of  it,  betake  themselves  to  the  Rock  of  Ages 
and  follow  Jesus  for  the  future. 

Item.  We  will  that  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  examine  every  mem- 
ber who  may  be  suspected  of  having  departed  from  the  Confession  of 


The  Springfield  Presbytery  143 


Faith  and  suspend  every  such  suspected  heretic  immediately,  in 
order  that  the  oppressed  may  go  free  and  taste  the  sweets  of  gospel 
liberty. 

hem.    We  will  that  Ja  ,  the  author  of  two  letters 

lately  published  in  Lexington,  be  encouraged  in  his  zeal  to  destroy 
partyism.  We  will,  moreover,  that  our  past  conduct  be  examined 
into  by  all  who  may  have  correct  information ;  but  let  foreigners  be- 
ware of  speaking  evil  of  things  which  they  know  not. 

Item.  Finally  we  will  that  all  our  sister  bodies  read  their  Bibles 
carefully,  that  they  may  see  their  fate  there  determined  and  prepare 
for  death  before  it  is  too  late. 


Robert  Marshall, 
John  Dunlavy, 
Richard  M'Nemar, 
B.  W.  Stone, 
John  Thompson, 
David  Purviance, 


Springfield  Presbytery  \ 
June  28th,  1804.  I 


L.  S. 


Witnesses. 


The  Witnesses*  Address 

We,  the  above  named  witnesses  of  the  Last  Will  and  Testament  of 
the  Springfield  Presbytery,  knowing  that  there  will  be  many  conjec- 
tures respecting  the  causes  which  have  occasioned  the  dissolution  of 
that  body,  think  proper  to  testify  that  from  its  first  existence  it  was 
knit  together  in  love,  lived  in  peace  and  concord  and  died  a  volun- 
tary and  happy  death. 

Their  reasons  for  dissolving  that  body  were  the  following :  With 
deep  concern  they  viewed  the  divisions  and  party  spirit  among  pro- 
fessing Christians,  principally  owing  to  the  adoption  of  human  creeds 
and  forms  of  government.  While  they  were  united  under  the  name 
of  a  Presbytery,  they  endeavoured  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  love  and 
unity  with  all  Christians ;  but  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  suppress 
the  idea  that  they  themselves  were  a  party  separate  from  others. 
This  difficulty  increased  in  proportion  to  their  success  in  the  ministry. 
Jealousies  were  excited  in  the  minds  of  other  denominations  and  a 
temptation  was  laid  before  those  who  were  connected  with  the 
various  parties  to  view  them  in  the  same  light.  At  their  last  meet- 
ing they  undertook  to  prepare  for  the  press  a  piece  entitled  Observa- 


144 


The  Last  Will  and  Testament 


tions  on  Church  Government,  in  which  the  world  will  see  tlie 
beautiful  simplicity  of  Christian  Church  government,  stript  of  human 
inventions  and  lordly  traditions.  As  they  proceeded  in  the  investi- 
gation of  that  subject,  they  soon  found  that  there  was  neither  precept 
nor  example  in  the  New  Testament  for  such  confederacies  as  modern 
Church  Sessions,  Presbyteries,  Synods,  General  Assemblies,  etc. 
Hence  they  concluded,  that  while  they  continued  in  the  connection 
in  which  they  then  stood,  they  were  off  the  foundation  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets,  of  which  Christ  Himself  is  the  chief  comer 
stone.  However  just,  therefore,  their  views  of  Church  government 
might  have  been,  they  would  have  gone  out  under  the  name  and 
sanction  of  a  self-constituted  body.  Therefore  from  a  principle  of 
love  to  Christians  of  every  name,  the  precious  cause  of  Jesus  and 
dying  sinners  who  are  kept  from  the  Lord  by  the  existence  of  sects 
and  parties  in  the  Church,  they  have  cheerfully  consented  to  retire 
from  the  din  and  fury  of  conflicting  parties — sink  out  of  the  view  of 
fleshly  minds  and  die  the  death.  They  believe  their  death  will  be 
great  gain  to  the  world.  But  though  dead,  as  above,  and  stript  of 
their  mortal  frame,  which  only  served  to  keep  them  too  near  the  con- 
fines of  Egyptian  bondage,  they  yet  live  and  speak  in  the  land  of 
gospel  liberty ;  they  blow  the  trumpet  of  jubilee  and  willingly  de- 
vote themselves  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.  They 
will  aid  the  brethren  by  their  counsel  when  required,  assist  in  or- 
daining elders  or  pastors,  seek  the  divine  blessing,  unite  with  all 
Christians,  commune  together  and  strengthen  each  others'  hands  in 
the  work  of  the  Lord. 

We  design,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  continue  in  the  exercise  of 
those  functions  which  belong  to  us  as  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  con- 
fidently trusting  in  the  Lord  that  He  will  be  with  us.  We  candidly 
acknowledge  that  in  some  things  we  may  err  through  human  in- 
firmity ;  but  He  will  correct  our  wanderings  and  preserve  His 
Church.  Let  all  Christians  join  with  us  in  crying  to  God  day  and 
night  to  remove  the  obstacles  which  stand  in  the  way  of  His  work, 
and  give  Him  no  rest  till  He  make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth. 
We  heartily  unite  with  our  Christian  brethren  of  every  name,  in 
thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  display  of  His  goodness  in  the  glorious 
work  He  is  carrying  on  in  our  Western  country,  which  we  hope  will 
terminate  in  the  universal  spread  of  the  Gospel  and  the  unity  of  the 
Church. 


A  Declaration  and  Address 


From  the  series  of  events  which  have  taken  place  in  the  Churches 
for  many  years  past,  especially  in  this  Western  country,  as  well  as 
from  what  we  know  in  general  of  the  present  state  of  things  in  the 
Christian  world,  we  are  persuaded  that  it  is  high  time  for  us  not 
only  to  think,  but  also  to  act,  for  ourselves ;  to  see  with  our  own 
eyes,  and  to  take  all  our  measures  directly  and  immediately  from  the 
divine  standard ;  to  this  alone  we  feel  ourselves  divinely  bound  to 
be  conformed,  as  by  this  alone  we  must  be  judged.  We  are  also 
persuaded  that  as  no  man  can  be  judged  for  his  brother,  so  no 
man  can  judge  for  his  brother  ;  every  man  must  be  allowed  to  judge 
for  himself,  as  every  man  must  bear  his  own  judgment — must 
give  account  of  himself  to  God.  We  are  also  of  opinion  that  as 
the  divine  word  is  equally  binding  upon  all,  so  all  lie  under  an  equal 
obligation  to  be  bound  by  it,  and  it  alone  ;  and  not  by  any  human 
interpretation  of  it ;  and  that,  therefore,  no  man  has  a  right  to  judge 
his  brother,  except  in  so  far  as  he  manifestly  violates  the  express  let- 
ter of  the  law.  That  every  such  judgment  is  an  express  violation  of 
the  law  of  Christ,  a  daring  usurpation  of  His  Throne,  and  a  gross 
intrusion  upon  the  rights  and  liberties  of  His  subjects.  We  are, 
therefore,  of  opinion  that  we  should  beware  of  such  things  ;  that  we 
should  keep  at  the  utmost  distance  from  everything  of  this  nature  ; 
and:  that,  knowing  the  judgment  of  God  against  them  that  commit 
such  things,  we  should  neither  do  the  same  ourselves,  nor  take 
pleasure  in  them  that  do  them.  Moreover,  being  well  aware,  from  ' 
sad  experience,  of  the  heinous  nature  and  pernicious  tendency  of  re- 
ligious controversy  among  Christians  ;  tired  and  sick  of  the  bitter  jar- 
rings  and  janglings  of  a  party  spirit,  we  would  desire  to  be  at  rest; 
and,  were  it  possible,  we  would  also  desire  to  adopt  and  recommend 
such  measures  as  would  give  rest  to  our  brethren  throughout  all  the 
Churches :  as  would  restore  unity,  peace,  and  purity  to  the  whole 
Church  of  God.  This  desirable  rest,  however,  we  utterly  despair 
either  to  find  for  ourselves,  or  to  be  able  to  recommend  to  our 
brethren,  by  continuing  amid  the  diversity  and  rancour  of  party 

145 


146  Declaration  and  Address 


contentions,  the  veering  uncertainty  and  clashings  of  human  opin- 
ions :  nor,  indeed,  can  we  reasonably  expect  to  find  it  anywhere 
but  in  Christ  and  His  simple  word,  which  is  the  same  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  forever.  Our  desire,  therefore,  for  ourselves  and  our 
brethren  would  be,  that,  rejecting  human  opinions  and  the  inventions 
of  men  as  of  any  authority,  or  as  having  any  place  in  the  Church  of 
God,  we  might  forever  cease  from  further  contentions  about  such 
things ;  returning  to  and  holding  fast  by  the  onginal  standard ;  tak- 
ing the  divine  word  alone  for  our  rule ;  the  Holy  Spirit  for  our 
teacher  and  guide,  to  lead  us  into  all  truth  ;  and  Christ  alone,  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  word,  for  our  salvation  ;  that,  by  so  doing,  we  may  be 
at  peace  among  ourselves,  follow  peace  with  all  men,  and  holiness, 
without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.  Impressed  with  these 
sentiments,  we  have  resolved  as  follows : 

I.  That  we  form  ourselves  into  a  religious  association  under  the 
denomination  of  the  Christian  Association  of  Washington,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  promoting  simple  evangelical  Christianity,  free  from 
all  mixture  of  human  opinions  and  inventions  of  men. 

II.  That  each  member,  according  to  ability,  cheerfully  and  lib- 
erally subscribe  a  certain  specified  sum,  to  be  paid  half  yearly,  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  a  fund  to  support  a  pure  Gospel  ministry,  that 
shall  reduce  to  practice  that  whole  form  of  doctrine,  worship,  disci- 
pline, and  government,  expressly  revealed  and  enjoined  in  the  word 
of  God.    And,  also,  for  supplying  the  poor  with  the  holy  Scriptures. 

III.  That  this  society  consider  it  a  duty,  and  shall  use  all  proper 
means  in  its  power,  to  encourage  the  formation  of  similar  associa- 
tions ;  and  shall  for  this  purpose  hold  itself  in  readiness,  upon  appli- 
cation, to  correspond  with,  and  render  all  possible  assistance  to,  such 
as  may  desire  to  associate  for  the  same  desirable  and  important  pur- 
poses. 

IV.  That  this  society  by  no  means  considers  itself  a  Church,  nor 
does  at  all  assume  to  itself  the  powers  peculiar  to  such  a  society ;  nor 
do  the  members,  as  such,  consider  themselves  as  standing  connected 
in  that  relation  ;  nor  as  at  all  associated  for  the  peculiar  purposes  of 
Church  association ;  but  merely  as  voluntary  advocates  for  Church 
reformation ;  and,  as  possessing  the  powers  common  to  all  individ- 
uals, who  may  please  to  associate  in  a  peaceable  and  orderly  manner, 
for  any  lawful  purpose,  namely,  the  disposal  of  their  time,  counsel 
and  property,  as  they  may  see  cause. 


Declaration  and  Address  147 


V.  That  this  society,  formed  for  the  sole  purpose  of  promoting 
simple  evangelical  Christianity,  shall,  to  the  utmost  of  its  power, 
countenance  and  support  such  ministers,  and  such  only,  as  exhibit  a 
manifest  conformity  to  the  original  standard  in  conversation  and  doc- 
trine, in  zeal  and  diligence ;  only  such  as  reduce  to  practice  that 
simple  original  form  of  Christianity,  expressly  exhibited  upon  the 
sacred  page ;  without  attempting  to  inculcate  anything  of  human  au- 
thority, of  private  opinion,  or  inventions  of  men,  as  having  any  place 
in  the  constitution,  faith,  or  worship,  of  the  Christian  Church,  or  any- 
thing as  matter  of  Christian  faith  or  duty,  for  which  there  cannot  be 
expressly  produced  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  either  in  express 
terms,  or  by  approved  precedent. 

VI.  That  a  standing  committee  of  twenty-one  members  of  unexcep- 
tionable moral  character,  inclusive  of  the  secretary  and  treasurer,  be 
chosen  annually  to  superintend  the  interests,  and  transact  the  busi- 
ness of  the  society.  And  that  said  committee  be  invested  with  full 
powers  to  act  and  do,  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  their  constituents, 
whatever  the  society  had  previously  determined,  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  into  effect  the  entire  object  of  its  institution,  and  that  in 
case  of  any  emergency,  unprovided  for  in  the  existing  determina- 
tions of  the  society,  said  committee  be  empowered  to  call  a  special 
meeting  for  that  purpose. 

VII.  That  this  society  meet  at  least  twice  a  year,  viz :  on  the  first 
Thursday  of  May,  and  of  November,  and  that  the  collectors  appointed 
to  receive  the  half-yearly  quotas  of  the  promised  subscriptions  be  in 
readiness,  at  or  before  each  meeting,  to  make  their  returns  to  the 
treasurer,  that  he  may  be  able  to  report  upon  the  state  of  the  funds. 
The  next  meeting  to  be  held  at  Washington  on  the  first  Thursday  of 
November  next. 

VIII.  That  each  meeting  of  the  society  be  opened  with  a  sermon, 
the  constitution  and  address  read,  and  a  collection  lifted  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  society ;  and  that  all  communications  of  a  public  nature  be 
laid  before  the  society  at  its  half-yearly  meetings. 

IX.  That  this  society,  relying  upon  the  all-sufficiency  of  the 
Church's  Head  ;  and,  through  His  grace,  looking  with  an  eye  of 
confidence  to  the  generous  liberality  of  the  sincere  friends  of  genuine 
Christianity ;  holds  itself  engaged  to  afford  a  competent  support  to 
such  ministers  as  the  Lord  may  graciously  dispose  to  assist,  at  the 
request,  and  by  invitation  of  the  society,  in  promoting  a  pure  evan> 


14-8  Declaration  and  Address 


gelical  reformation,  by  the  simple  preaching  of  the  everlasting  Gospel, 
and  the  administration  of  its  ordinances  in  an  exact  conformity  to 
the  divine  standard  as  aforesaid ;  and  that,  therefore,  whatever  the 
friends  of  the  institution  shall  please  to  contribute  towards  the  sup- 
port of  ministers  in  connection  with  this  society,  who  may  be  sent 
forth  to  preach  at  considerable  distances,  the  same  shall  be  gratefully 
received  and  acknowledged  as  a  donation  to  its  funds. 

Address  Etc. 

To  all  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity, 
throughout  all  the  Churches,  the  following  Address 
is  most  respectfully  szcbinitted  : 

Dearly  Beloved  Brethren  ; 

That  it  is  the  grand  design  and  native  tendency  of  our  holy 
religion  to  reconcile  and  unite  men  to  God,  and  to  each  other,  in 
truth  and  love,  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  their  own  present  and  eter- 
nal good,  will  not,  we  presume,  be  denied,  by  any  of  the  genuine 
subjects  of  Christianity.  The  nativity  of  its  divine  Author  was  an- 
nounced from  heaven,  by  a  host  of  angels,  with  high  acclamations 
of  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace  and  good-will 
towards  men."  The  whole  tenor  of  that  divine  book  which  contains 
its  institutes,  in  all  its  gracious  declarations,  precepts,  ordinances,  and 
holy  examples,  most  expressively  and  powerfully  inculcates  this.  In 
so  far,  then,  as  this  holy  unity  and  unanimity  in  faith  and  love  is  at- 
tained, just  in  the  same  degree  is  the  glory  of  God  and  the  happi- 
ness of  men  promoted  and  secured.  Impressed  with  those  senti- 
ments, and,  at  the  same  time,  grievously  affected  with  those  sad 
divisions  which  have  so  awfully  interfered  with  the  benign  and 
gracious  intention  of  our  holy  religion,  by  exciting  its  professed  sub- 
jects to  bite  and  devour  one  another,  we  cannot  suppose  ourselves 
justifiable  in  withholding  the  mite  of  our  sincere  and  humble  en- 
deavours to  heal  and  remove  them. 

What  awful  and  distressing  effects  have  those  sad  divisions  pro- 
duced !  what  aversions,  what  reproaches,  what  backbitings,  what 
evil  surmisings,  what  angry  contentions,  what  enmities,  what  ex- 


Declaration  and  Address  149 


communications,  and  even  persecution  !  !  !  And,  indeed,  this  must, 
in  some  measure,  continue  to  be  the  case  so  long  as  those  schisms 
exist ;  for,  saith  the  apostle,  where  envying  and  strife  is,  /Aere  is 
confusion  and  every  evil  work.  What  dreary  effects  of  those  ac- 
cursed divisions  are  to  be  seen,  even  in  this  highly  favoured  country, 
where  the  sword  of  the  civil  magistrate  has  not  as  yet  learned  to 
serve  at  the  altar.  Have  we  not  seen  congregations  broken  to 
pieces,  neighbourhoods  of  professing  Christians  first  thrown  into  con- 
fusion by  party  contentions,  and,  in  the  end,  entirely  deprived  of 
Gospel  ordinances ;  while,  in  the  meantime,  large  settlements  and 
tracts  of  country  remain  to  this  day  entirely  destitute  of  a  Gospel 
ministry,  many  of  them  in  little  better  than  a  state  of  heathenism, 
the  Churches  being  either  so  weakened  with  divisions  that  they 
cannot  send  them  ministers,  or  the  people  so  divided  among  them- 
selves that  they  will  not  receive  them.  Several,  at  the  same  time, 
who  live  at  the  door  of  a  preached  Gospel,  dare  not  in  conscience  go 
to  hear  it,  and,  of  course,  enjoy  little  more  advantage,  in  that  respect, 
than  if  living  in  the  midst  of  heathens.  How  seldom  do  many  in 
those  circumstances  enjoy  the  dispensations  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  that 
great  ordinance  of  unity  and  love.  How  sadly,  also,  does  this  broken 
and  confused  state  of  things  interfere  with  that  spiritual  intercourse 
among  Christians,  one  with  another,  which  is  so  essential  to  their 
edification  and  comfort,  in  the  midst  of  a  present  evil  world;  so 
divided  in  sentiment,  and,  of  course,  living  at  such  distances,  that 
but  few  of  the  same  opinion,  or  party,  can  conveniently  and  frequently 
assemble  for  religious  purposes,  or  enjoy  a  due  frequency  of  minis- 
terial attentions.  And  even  where  things  are  in  a  better  state  with 
respect  to  settled  Churches,  how  is  the  tone  of  discipline  relaxed  under 
the  influence  of  a  party  spirit ;  many  being  afraid  to  exercise  it  with 
due  strictness,  lest  their  people  should  leave  them,  and,  under  the 
cloak  of  some  specious  pretense,  find  refuge  in  the  bosom  of  another 
party ;  while,  lamentable  to  be  told,  so  corrupted  is  the  Church  with 
those  accursed  divisions,  that  there  are  but  few  so  base  as  not  to  find 
admission  into  some  professing  party  or  other.  Thus,  in  a  great 
measure,  is  that  Scriptural  purity  of  communion  banished  from  the 
Church  of  God,  upon  the  due  preservation  of  which  much  of  her 
comfort,  glory,  and  usefulness  depend.  To  complete  the  dread  re- 
sult of  our  woful  divisions,  one  evil  yet  remains,  of  a  very  awful 
nature :  the  divine  displeasure  justly  provoked  with  this  sad  per- 


150  Declaration  and  Address 


version  of  the  Gospel  of  peace,  the  Lord  withholds  His  gi-acious  in- 
fluential presence  from  His  ordinances,  and  not  unfrequently  gives 
up  the  contentious  authors  and  abettors  of  religious  discord  to  fall 
into  grievous  scandals,  or  visits  them  with  judgments,  as  He  did  the 
house  of  Eli.  Thus,  while  professing  Christians  bite  and  devour  one 
another,  they  are  consumed  one  of  another,  or  fall  a  prey  to  the  right- 
eous judgments  of  God ;  meantime,  the  truly  religious  of  all  parties 
are  grieved,  the  weak  stumbled,  the  graceless  and  profane  hardened, 
the  mouths  of  infidels  opened  to  blaspheme  religion,  and  thus  the 
only  thing  under  heaven  divinely  efficacious  to  promote  and  secure 
the  present  spiritual  and  eternal  good  of  man,  even  the  Gospel  of  the 
blessed  Jesus,  is  reduced  to  contempt,  while  multitudes,  deprived  of 
a  Gospel  ministry,  as  has  been  observed,  fall  an  easy  prey  to  seducers, 
and  so  become  the  dupes  of  almost  unheard-of  delusions.  Are  not 
such  the  visible  effects  of  our  sad  divisions,  even  in  this  otherwise 
happy  country  ?  Say,  dear  brethren,  are  not  these  things  so  ?  Is  it 
not  then  your  incumbent  duty  to  endeavour,  by  all  Scriptural  means, 
to  have  those  evils  remedied  ?  Who  will  say  that  it  is  not  ?  And 
does  it  not  peculiarly  belong  to  you,  who  occupy  the  place  of  Gospel 
ministers,  to  be  leaders  in  this  laudable  undertaking  ?  Much  depends 
upon  your  hearty  concurrence  and  zealous  endeavours.  The  favour- 
able opportunity  which  divine  Providence  has  put  into  your  hands, 
in  this  happy  country,  for  the  accomplishment  of  so  great  a  good,  is, 
in  itself,  a  consideration  of  no  small  encouragement.  A  country 
happily  exempted  from  the  baneful  influence  of  a  civil  establishment 
of  any  peculiar  form  of  Christianity  ;  from  under  the  direct  influence 
of  the  antichristian  hierarchy  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  from  any  formal 
connection  with  the  devoted  nations  that  have  given  their  strength 
and  power  unto  the  beast;  in  which,  of  course,  no  adequate  reforma- 
tion can  be  accomplished,  until  the  word  of  God  be  fulfilled,  and  the 
vials  of  His  wrath  poured  out  upon  them.  Happy  exemption,  indeed, 
from  being  the  object  of  such  awful  judgments.  Still  more  happy 
will  it  be  for  us  if  we  duly  esteem  and  improve  those  great  advan- 
tages, for  the  high  and  valuable  ends  for  which  they  are  manifestly 
given,  and  sure  where  much  is  given,  much  also  will  be  required. 
Can  the  Lord  expect,  or  require,  anything  less  from  a  people  in 
such  unhampered  circumstances — from  a  people  so  liberally  furnished 
with  all  means  and  mercies,  than  a  thorough  reformation  in  all  things, 
civil  and  religious,  according  to  His  word  ?    Why  should  we  sup 


Declaration  and  Address  151 


pose  it  ?  And  would  not  such  an  improvement  of  our  precious 
privileges  be  equally  conducive  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  our  own 
present  and  everlasting  good  ?  The  auspicious  phenomena  of  the 
times  furnish  collateral  arguments  of  a  very  encouraging  nature,  that 
our  dutiful  and  pious  endeavours  shall  not  be  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 
Is  it  not  the  day  of  the  Lord's  vengeance  upon  the  antichristian 
world — the  year  of  recompenses  for  the  controversy  of  Zion  ?  Surely, 
then,  the  time  to  favour  her  is  come  ;  even  the  set  time.  And  is  it 
not  said  that  Zion  shall  be  built  in  troublous  times  ?  Have  not 
greater  efforts  been  made,  and  more  done,  for  the  promulgation  of 
the  Gospel  among  the  nations,  since  the  commencement  of  the  French 
revolution,  than  had  been  for  many  centuries  prior  to  that  event  ? 
And  have  not  the  Churches,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  since  that 
period,  discovered  a  more  than  usual  concern  for  the  removal  of  con- 
tentions, for  the  healing  of  divisions,  for  the  restoration  of  a  Christian 
and  brotherly  intercourse  one  with  another,  and  for  the  promotion  of 
each  other's  spiritual  good,  as  the  printed  documents  upon  those 
subjects  amply  testify  ?  Should  we  not,  then,  be  excited  by  these 
considerations  to  concur  with  all  our  might,  to  help  forward  this  good 
work ;  that  what  yet  remains  to  be  done,  may  be  fully  accomplished. 
And  what  though  the  well-meant  endeavours  after  union  have  not, 
in  some  instances,  entirely  succeeded  to  the  wish  of  all  parties, 
should  this  dissuade  us  from  the  attempt  ?  Indeed,  should  Christians 
cease  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  sacred  articles  of  faith  and  duty 
once  delivered  to  the  saints,  on  account  of  the  opposition  and  scanty 
success  which,  in  many  instances,  attend  their  faithful  and  honest 
endeavours;  the  divine  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness  might  have 
long  ago  been  relinquished.  And  is  there  anything  more  formi- 
dable in  the  Goliah  schism,  than  in  many  other  evils  which  Christians 
have  to  combat  ?  Or,  has  the  Captain  of  Salvation  sounded  a  desist 
from  pursuing,  or  proclaimed  a  truce  with  this  deadly  enemy  that  is 
sheathing  its  sword  in  the  very  bowels  of  His  Church,  rending  and 
mangling  His  mystical  body  into  pieces  ?  Has  he  said  to  his  servants, 
Let  it  alone  ?  If  not,  where  is  the  warrant  for  a  cessation  of  endeav- 
ours to  have  it  removed  ?  On  the  other  hand  are  we  not  the  better 
instructed  by  sage  experience,  how  to  proceed  in  this  business,  hav- 
ing before  our  eyes  the  inadvertencies  and  mistakes  of  others,  which 
have  hitherto,  in  many  instances,  prevented  the  desired  success  ? 
Thus  taught  by  experience,  and  happily  furnished  with  the  accumu- 


152  Declaration  and  Address 


lated  instructions  of  those  that  have  gone  before  us,  earnestly  labour- 
ing in  this  good  cause,  let  us  take  unto  ourselves  the  whole  armour 
of  God,  and,  having  our  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  Gospel 
of  peace,  let  us  stand  fast  by  this  important  duty  with  all  persever- 
ance. Let  none  that  love  the  peace  of  Zion  be  discouraged,  much 
less  ofTended,  because  that  an  object  of  such  magnitude  does  not,  in 
the  first  instance,  come  forth  recommended  by  the  express  suffrage  of 
the  mighty  or  the  many.  This  consideration,  if  duly  weighed,  will 
neither  give  offense,  nor  yield  discouragement  to  any  one  that  con- 
siders the  nature  of  the  thing  in  question  in  connection  with  what 
has  been  already  suggested.  Is  it  not  a  matter  of  universal  right,  a 
duty  equally  belonging  to  every  citizen  of  Zion,  to  seek  her  good  ? 
In  this  respect,  no  one  can  claim  a  preference  above  his  fellows,  as 
to  any  peculiar,  much  less  exclusive  obligation.  And,  as  for  author- 
ity, it  can  have  no  place  in  this  business  ;  for,  surely,  none  can  suppose 
themselves  invested  with  a  divine  right,  as  to  anything  peculiarly 
belonging  to  them,  to  call  the  attention  of  their  brethren  to  this  duti- 
ful and  important  undertaking.  For  our  part,  we  entertain  no  such 
arrogant  presumption ;  nor  are  we  inclined  to  impute  the  thought  to 
any  of  our  brethren,  that  this  good  work  should  be  let  alone  till  such 
time  as  they  may  think  proper  to  come  forward  and  sanction  the  at- 
tempt, by  their  invitation  and  example.  It  is  an  open  field,  an  ex- 
tensive work,  to  which  all  are  equally  welcome,  equally  invited. 

Should  we  speak  of  competency,  viewing  the  greatness  of  the  ob- 
ject, and  the  manifold  difficulties  which  lie  in  the  way  of  its  accom- 
plishment; we  would  readily  exclaim,  with  the  apostle.  Who  is 
sufficient  for  these  things  ?  But,  upon  recollecting  ourselves,  neither 
would  we  be  discouraged ;  persuaded  with  him,  that,  as  the  work  in 
which  we  are  engaged,  so,  likewise,  our  sufficiency  is  of  God.  But, 
after  all,  both  the  mighty  and  the  many  are  with  us.  The  Lord 
Himself,  and  all  that  are  truly  His  people,  are  declaredly  on  our  side. 
The  prayers  of  all  the  Churches,  nay,  the  prayers  of  Christ  Himself 
(John  xvii.  20,  23),  and  of  all  that  have  ascended  to  His  heavenly  king- 
dom, are  with  us.  The  blessing  out  of  Zion  is  pronounced  upon  our 
undertaking.  "  Pray  for  the  Peace  of  Jerusalem ;  they  shall  prosper 
that  love  thee."  With  such  encouragements  as  these,  what  should 
deter  us  from  the  heavenly  enterprise,  or  render  hopeless  the  at- 
tempt of  accomplishing,  in  due  time,  an  entire  union  of  all  the 
Churches  in  faith  and  practice,  according  to  the  word  of  God  ?  Not 


Declaration  and  Address  1 53 


that  we  judge  ourselves  competent  to  effect  such  a  thing;  we  utterly 
disclaim  the  thought;  but  we  judge  it  our  bounden  duty  to  make 
the  attempt,  by  using  all  due  means  in  our  power  to  promote  it ;  and 
also,  that  we  have  sufficient  reason  to  rest  assured  that  our  humble 
and  well-meant  endeavours  shall  not  be  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 

The  cause  that  we  advocate  is  not  our  own  peculiar  cause,  nor  the 
cause  of  any  party,  considered  as  such ;  it  is  a  common  cause,  the 
cause  of  Christ  and  our  brethren  of  all  denominations.  All  that  we 
presume,  then,  is  to  do  what  we  humbly  conceive  to  be  our  duty,  in 
connection  with  our  brethren ;  to  each  of  whom  it  equally  belongs, 
as  to  us,  to  exert  himself  for  this  blessed  purpose.  And  as  we  have 
no  just  reason  to  doubt  the  concurrence  of  our  brethren  to  accom- 
plish an  object  so  desirable  in  itself,  and  fraught  with  such  happy 
consequences,  so  neither  can  we  look  forward  to  that  happy  event 
which  will  forever  put  an  end  to  our  hapless  divisions,  and  restore 
to  the  Church  its  primitive  unity,  purity,  and  prosperity,  but  in  the 
pleasing  prospect  of  their  hearty  and  dutiful  concurrence. 

Dearly  beloved  brethren,  why  should  we  deem  it  a  thing  incredi- 
ble that  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  this  highly  favoured  country,  should 
resume  that  original  unity,  peace,  and  purity  which  belong  to  its 
constitution,  and  constitute  its  glory  ?  Or,  is  there  anything  that 
can  be  justly  deemed  necessary  for  this  desirable  purpose,  both  to  con- 
form to  the  model  and  adopt  the  practice  of  the  primitive  Church, 
expressly  exhibited  in  the  New  Testament  ?  Whatever  alterations 
this  might  produce  in  any  or  in  all  of  the  Churches,  should,  we  think, 
neither  be  deemed  inadmissible  nor  ineligible.  Surely  such  alter- 
ation would  be  every  way  for  the  better,  and  not  for  the  worse,  un- 
less we  should  suppose  the  divinely  inspired  rule  to  be  faulty,  or  de- 
fective. Were  we,  then,  in  our  Church  constitution  and  manage- 
ments, to  exhibit  a  complete  conformity  to  the  apostolic  Church, 
would  we  not  be,  in  that  respect,  as  perfect  as  Christ  intended  we 
should  be  ?    And  should  not  this  suffice  us  ? 

It  is,  to  us,  a  pleasing  consideration  that  all  the  Churches  of  Christ 
which  mutually  acknowledge  each  other  as  such,  are  not  only  agreed 
in  the  great  doctrines  of  faith  and  holiness,  but  are  also  materially 
agreed  as  to  the  positive  ordinances  of  the  Gospel  institution  ;  so  that 
our  differences,  at  most,  are  about  the  things  in  which  the  kingdom 
of  God  does  not  consist,  that  is,  about  matters  of  private  opinion 
or  human  invention.    What  a  pity  that  the  kingdom  of  God  should 


1 54  Declaration  and  Address 


be  divided  about  such  things !  Who,  then,  would  not  be  the 
first  among  us  to  give  up  human  inventions  in  the  worship  of 
God,  and  to  cease  from  imposing  his  private  opinions  upon  his 
brethren,  that  our  breaches  might  thus  be  healed  ?  Who  would 
not  willingly  conform  to  the  original  pattern  laid  down  in  the  New 
Testament,  for  this  happy  purpose  ?  Our  dear  brethren  of  all  de- 
nominations will  please  to  consider  that  we  have  our  educational 
prejudices  and  particular  customs  to  struggle  against  as  well  as  they. 
But  this  we  do  sincerely  declare,  that  there  is  nothing  we  have 
hitherto  received  as  matter  of  faith  or  practice  which  is  not  expressly 
taught  and  enjoined  in  the  word  of  God,  either  in  express  terms  or 
approved  precedent,  that  we  would  not  heartily  relinquish,  that  so 
we  might  return  to  the  original  constitutional  unity  of  the  Christian 
Church  ;  and,  in  this  happy  unity,  enjoy  full  communion  with  all  our 
brethren,  in  peace  and  charity.  The  like  dutiful  condescension  we 
candidly  expect  of  all  that  are  seriously  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the 
duty  they  owe  to  God,  to  each  otlier,  and  to  their  perishing  brethren 
of  mankind.  To  this  we  call,  we  invite,  our  brethren  of  all  denomi- 
nations, by  all  the  sacred  motives  which  we  have  avouched  as  the 
impulsive  reasons  of  our  thus  addressing  them. 

You  are  all,  dear  brethren,  equally  included  as  the  objects  of  our 
love  and  esteem.  With  you  all  we  desire  to  unite  in  the  bonds  of 
an  entire  Christian  unity — Christ  alone  being  the  head,  the  centre, 
His  word  the  rule ;  an  explicit  belief  of,  and  manifest  conformity 
to  it,  in  all  things — the  terms.  More  than  this,  you  will  not  re- 
quire of  us ;  and  less  we  cannot  require  of  you ;  nor,  indeed,  can 
we  reasonably  suppose  any  would  desire  it,  for  what  good  pur- 
pose would  it  serve  ?  We  dare  neither  assume  nor  propose  the 
trite  indefinite  distinction  between  essentials  and  non-essentials,  in 
matters  of  revealed  truth  and  duty  ;  firmly  persuaded,  that,  whatever 
may  be  their  comparative  importance,  simply  considered,  the  high 
obligation  of  the  divine  authority  revealing,  or  enjoining  them, 
renders  the  belief  or  performance  of  them  absolutely  essential  to  us, 
in  so  far  as  we  know  them.  And  to  be  ignorant  of  anything  God 
has  revealed,  can  neither  be  our  duty  nor  our  privilege.  We 
humbly  presume,  then,  dear  brethren,  you  can  have  no  relevant  ob- 
jection to  meet  us  upon  this  ground.  And,  we  again  beseech  you, 
let  it  be  known  that  it  is  the  invitation  of  but  few ;  by  your  acces- 
sion  we  shall  be  many;  and  whether  few,  or  many,  in  the  first 


Declaration  and  Address  155 


instance,  it  is  all  one  with  respect  to  the  event  which  must  ultimately 
await  the  full  information  and  hearty  concurrence  of  all.  Besides, 
whatever  is  to  be  done,  must  begin,  some  time,  some  where ;  and 
no  matter  where,  nor  by  whom,  if  the  Lord  puts  His  hand  to  the 
work,  it  must  surely  prosper.  And  has  He  not  been  graciously 
pleased,  upon  many  signal  occasions,  to  bring  to  pass  the  greatest 
events  from  very  small  beginnings,  and  even  by  means  the  most  un- 
likely?   Duty  then  is  ours;  but  events  belong  to  God. 

We  hope,  then,  what  we  urge  will  neither  be  deemed  an  unrea- 
sonable nor  an  unseasonable  undertaking.  Why  should  it  be  thought 
unseasonable  ?  Can  any  time  be  assigned,  while  things  continue  as 
they  are,  that  would  prove  more  favourable  for  such  an  attempt,  or 
what  could  be  supposed  to  make  it  so  ?  Might  it  be  the  approxima- 
tion of  parties  to  a  greater  nearness,  in  point  of  public  profession  and 
similarity  of  customs  ?  Or  might  it  be  expected  from  a  gradual  de- 
cline of  bigotry  ?  As  to  the  former,  it  is  a  well  known  fact,  that 
where  the  difference  is  least,  the  opposition  is  always  managed  with 
a  degree  of  vehemence  inversely  proportioned  to  the  merits  of  the 
cause.  With  respect  to  the  latter,  though  we  are  happy  to  say,  that  in 
some  cases  and  places,  and,  we  hope,  universally,  bigotry  is  upon  the 
decline  ;  yet  we  are  not  warranted,  either  by  the  past  or  present,  to 
act  upon  that  supposition.  We  have,  as  yet,  by  this  means  seen  no 
such  effect  produced ;  nor  indeed  could  we  reasonably  expect  it ;  for 
there  will  always  be  multitudes  of  weak  persons  in  the  Church,  and 
these  are  generally  most  subject  to  bigotry ;  add  to  this,  that  while 
divisions  exist,  there  will  always  be  found  interested  men  who  will 
not  fail  to  support  them  ;  nor  can  we  at  all  suppose  that  Satan  will 
be  idle  to  improve  an  advantage  so  important  to  the  interests  of  his 
kingdom.  And,  let  it  be  further  observed  upon  the  whole,  that,  in 
matters  of  similar  importance  to  our  secular  interests,  we  would  by 
no  means  content  ourselves  with  such  kind  of  reasoning.  We  might 
.urther  add,  that  the  attempt  here  suggested  not  being  of  a  partial, 
but  of  general  nature,  it  can  have  no  just  tendency  to  excite  the 
jealousy,  or  hurt  the  feelings  of  any  party.  On  the  contrary,  every 
effort  towards  a  permanent  Scriptural  unity  among  the  Churches, 
upon  the  solid  basis  of  universally  acknowledged  and  self-evident 
truths,  must  have  the  happiest  tendency  to  enlighten  and  conciliate, 
by  thus  manifesting  to  each  other  their  mutual  charity  and  zeal  for 
the  truth  :  "  Whom  I  love  in  the  truth,"  saith  the  apostle,  "  and  not 


156  Declaration  and  Address 


I  only,  but  also  all  they  that  have  known  the  truth ;  for  the  truth's 
sake,  which  is  in  us,  and  shall  be  with  us  forever."  Indeed,  if  no 
such  divine  and  adequate  basis  of  union  can  be  fairly  exhibited,  as 
will  meet  the  approbation  of  every  upright  and  intelligent  Christian, 
nor  such  mode  of  procedure  adopted  in  favour  of  the  weak  as  will  not 
oppress  their  consciences,  then  the  accomplishment  of  this  grand 
object  upon  principle  must  be  forever  impossible.  There  would, 
upon  this  supposition,  remain  no  other  way  of  accomplishing  it,  but 
merely  by  voluntary  compromise,  and  good-natured  accommodation. 
That  such  a  thing,  however,  will  be  accomplished,  one  way  or  other, 
will  not  be  questioned  by  any  that  allow  themselves  to  believe  that 
the  commands  and  prayers  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  not  utterly 
prove  ineffectual.  Whatever  way,  then,  it  is  to  be  effected,  whether 
upon  the  solid  basis  of  divinely  revealed  truth,  or  the  good-natured 
principle  of  Christian  forbearance  and  gracious  condescension,  is  it 
not  equally  practicable,  equally  eligible  to  us,  as  ever  it  can  be  to 
any ;  unless  we  should  suppose  ourselves  destitute  of  that  Christian 
temper  and  discernment  which  is  essentially  necessary  to  qualify  us 
to  do  the  vfiW  of  our  gracious  Redeemer,  whose  expressed  command 
to  His  people  is,  that  there  be  "  no  divisions  among  them ;  but  that 
they  all  walk  by  the  same  rule,  speak  the  same  thing,  and  be  perfectly 
joined  together  in  the  same  mind,  and  in  the  same  judgment "  ?  We 
believe  then  it  is  as  practicable  as  it  is  eligible.  Let  us  attempt  it. 
"  Up,  and  be  doing,  and  the  Lord  will  be  with  us." 

Are  we  not  all  praying  for  that  happy  event,  when  there  shall  be 
but  one  fold,  as  there  is  but  one  chief  Shepherd  ?  What !  shall  we 
pray  for  a  thing,  and  not  strive  to  obtain  it !  !  not  use  the  necessary 
means  to  have  it  accomplished !  !  What  said  the  Lord  to  Moses 
upon  a  piece  of  conduct  somewhat  similar  ?  "  Why  criest  thou  unto 
Me  ?  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go  forward,  but 
lift  thou  up  thy  rod,  and  stretch  out  thine  hand."  Let  the  ministers 
of  Jesus  but  embrace  this  exhortation,  put  their  hand  to  the  work, 
and  encourage  the  people  to  go  forward  upon  the  firm  ground  of  ob- 
vious truth,  to  unite  in  the  bonds  of  an  entire  Qiristian  unity ;  and 
who  will  venture  to  say  that  it  would  not  soon  be  accomplished  ? 
"  Cast  ye  up,  cast  ye  up,  prepare  the  way,  take  up  the  stumbling- 
block  out  of  the  way  of  My  people,"  saith  your  God.  To  you,  there- 
fore, it  peculiarly  belongs,  as  the  professed  and  acknowledged  leaders 
of  the  people,  to  go  before  them  in  this  good  work,  to  remove  human 


Declaration  and  Address  157 


opinions  and  the  inventions  of  men  out  of  the  way,  by  carefully 
separating  this  chaff  from  the  pure  wheat  of  primary  and  authentic 
revelation;  casting  out  that  assumed  authority,  that  enacting  and 
decreeing  power  by  which  those  things  have  been  imposed  and  es- 
tablished. To  this  ministerial  department,  then,  do  we  look  with 
anxiety.  Ministers  of  Jesus,  you  can  neither  be  ignorant  of  nor  un- 
affected with  the  divisions  and  corruptions  of  His  Church.  His  dying 
commands.  His  last  and  ardent  prayers  for  the  visible  unity  of  His 
professing  people,  will  not  suffer  you  to  be  indifferent  in  this  matter. 
You  will  not,  you  cannot,  therefore,  be  silent  upon  a  subject  of  such 
vast  importance  to  His  personal  glory  and  the  happiness  of  His  people 
— consistently  you  cannot;  for  silence  gives  consent.  You  will 
rather  lift  up  your  voice  like  a  trumpet  to  expose  the  heinous  nature 
and  dreadful  consequences  of  those  unnatural  and  antichristian  di- 
visions, which  have  so  rent  and  ruined  the  Church  of  God.  Thus,  in 
justice  to  your  station  and  character,  honoured  of  the  Lord,  would  we 
hopefully  anticipate  your  zealous  and  faithful  efforts  to  heal  the 
breaches  of  Zion;  that  God's  dear  children  might  dwell  together  in 
unity  and  love ;  but  if  otherwise  .  .  .  vi^e  forbear  to  utter  it. 
(See  Mai.  ii.  i-io.) 

Oh  !  that  ministers  and  people  would  but  consider  that  there  are 
no  divisions  in  the  grave,  nor  in  that  world  which  lies  beyond  it ! 
there  our  divisions  must  come  to  an  end !  we  must  all  unite  there ! 
Would  to  God  we  could  find  in  our  hearts  to  put  an  end  to  our 
short  lived  divisions  here ;  that  so  we  might  leave  a  blessing  behind 
us ;  even  a  happy  and  united  Church.  What  gratification,  what 
utility,  in  the  meantime,  can  our  divisions  afford  either  to  ministers 
or  people?  Should  they  be  perpetuated  till  the  day  of  judgment, 
would  they  convert  one  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  ways,  or  save  a 
soul  from  death  ?  Have  they  any  tendency  to  hide  the  multitude  of 
sins  that  are  so  dishonourable  to  God,  and  hurtfiil  to  His  people  ? 
Do  they  not  rather  irritate  and  produce  them  ?  How  innumerable 
and  highly  aggravated  are  the  sins  they  have  produced,  and  are 
at  this  day  producing,  both  among  professors  and  profane.  We 
entreat,  we  beseech  you  then,  dear  brethren,  by  all  those  considera- 
tions, to  concur  in  this  blessed  and  dutiful  attempt.  What  is  tlie 
work  of  all,  must  be  done  by  all.  Such  was  the  work  of  the  taber- 
nacle in  the  wilderness.  Such  is  the  work  to  which  you  are  called, 
not  by  the  authority  of  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  God  the 


158  Declaration  and  Address 


Father,  who  raised  Him  from  the  dead.  By  this  authority  are  you 
called  to  raise  up  the  tabernacle  of  David,  that  is  fallen  down 
among  us,  and  to  set  it  up  upon  its  own  base.  This  you  cannot 
do,  while  you  run  every  man  to  his  own  house,  and  consult  only 
the  interests  of  his  own  party.  Until  you  associate,  consult,  and 
advise  together,  and  in  a  friendly  and  Christian  manner  explore  the 
subject,  nothing  can  be  done.  \Ve  would,  therefore,  with  all  due 
deference  and  submission,  call  the  attention  of  our  brethren  to  the 
obvious  and  important  duty  of  association.  Unite  with  us  in  the 
common  cause  of  simple  evangelical  Christianity ;  in  this  glorious 
cause  we  are  ready  to  unite  with  you.  United  we  shall  prevail.  It 
is  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  of  our  brethren  throughout  all  the 
Churches,  of  catholic  unity,  peace,  and  purity ;  a  cause  that  must 
finally  prosper  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  Let  us  unite  to  promote 
it.  Come  forward,  then,  dear  brethren,  and  help  with  us.  Do  not 
suffer  yourselves  to  be  lulled  asleep  by  that  syren  song  of  the  sloth- 
ful and  reluctant  professor :  "  The  time  is  not  yet  come,  tlie  time 
is  not  come,  saith  he ;  the  time  that  the  Lord's  house  should  be 
built."  Believe  him  not.  Do  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times? 
Have  not  the  two  witnesses  arisen  from  their  state  of  political 
death,  from  under  the  long  proscription  of  ages  ?  Have  they  not 
stood  upon  their  feet,  in  the  presence,  and  to  the  consternation  and 
terror  of  their  enemies  ?  Has  not  their  resurrection  been  accompa- 
nied with  a  great  earthquake  ?  Has  not  the  tenth  part  of  the  great 
city  been  thrown  down  by  it?  Has  not  this  event  aroused  the  na- 
tions to  indignation  ?  Have  they  not  been  angry,  yea,  very  angry? 
Therefore,  O  Lord,  is  Thy  wrath  come  upon  them,  and  the  time  of 
the  dead  that  they  should  be  avenged,  and  that  Thou  shouldest  give 
reward  to  Thy  ser\'ants  the  prophets,  and  to  them  that  fear  Thy  name, 
both  small  and  great ;  and  that  Thou  shouldest  destroy  them  that 
have  destroyed  the  earth.  Who  among  us  has  not  heard  the  report 
of  these  things,  of  these  lightnings  and  thunderings  and  voices ;  of 
this  tremendous  earthquake  and  great  hail ;  of  these  awful  convul- 
sions and  revolutions  that  have  dashed  and  are  dashing  to  pieces  the 
nations,  like  a  potter's  vessel  ?  Yea,  have  not  the  remote  vibrations 
of  this  dreadful  shock  been  felt  even  by  us,  whom  God  has  gra- 
ciously placed  at  so  great  a  distance  ? 

What  shall  we  say  to  these  things  ?  Is  it  time  for  us  to  sit  still  in 
our  corruptions  and  divisions,  when  the  Lord,  by  His  word  and  prov- 


Declaration  and  Address  159 


idence,  is  so  loudly  and  expressly  calling  us  to  repentance,  and 
reformation  ?  "  Awake,  awake  ;  put  on  thy  strength,  O  Zion,  put  on 
thy  beautiful  garments,  O  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city;  for  henceforth 
there  shall  no  more  come  unto  thee  the  uncircumcised  and  the  un- 
clean. Shake  thyself  from  the  dust,  O  Jerusalem  ;  arise,  loose  thyself 
from  the  bands  of  thy  neck,  O  captive  daughter  of  Zion."  Resume 
that  precious,  that  dear-bought  liberty,  wherewith  Christ  has  made 
His  people  free ;  a  liberty  from  subjection  to  any  authority  but 
His  own,  in  matters  of  religion.  Call  no  man  father,  no  man 
master  on  earth;  for  one  is  your  master,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye 
are  brethren.  Stand  fast,  therefore,  in  this  precious  liberty,  and 
be  not  entangled  again  with  the  yoke  of  bondage.  For  the  vindi- 
cation of  this  precious  liberty  have  we  declared  ourselves  hearty 
and  willing  advocates.  For  this  benign  and  dutiful  purpose  have 
we  associated,  that  by  so  doing  we  might  contribute  the  mite  of 
our  humble  endeavours  to  promote  it,  and  thus  invite  our  brethren 
to  do  the  same.  As  the  first-fruits  of  our  efforts  for  this  blessed  pur- 
pose we  respectfully  present  to  their  consideration  the  following 
propositions,  relying  upon  their  charity  and  candour  that  they  will 
neither  despise  nor  misconstrue  our  humble  and  adventurous  at- 
tempt. If  they  should  in  any  measure  serve,  as  a  preliminary,  to 
open  up  the  way  to  a  permanent  Scriptural  unity  among  the  friends 
and  lovers  of  truth  and  peace  throughout  the  Churches,  we  shall 
greatly  rejoice  at  it.  We  by  no  means  pretend  to  dictate,  and  could 
we  propose  anything  more  evident,  consistent,  and  adequate,  it 
should  be  at  their  service.  Their  pious  and  dutiful  attention  to  an 
object  of  such  magnitude  will  induce  them  to  communicate  to  us 
their  emendations;  and  thus  what  is  sown  in  weakness  will  be 
raised  up  in  power.  For  certainly  the  collective  graces  that  are  con- 
ferred upon  the  Church,  if  duly  united  and  brought  to  bear  upon  any 
point  of  commanded  duty,  would  be  amply  sufficient  for  the  right 
and  successful  performance  of  it.  "  For  to  one  is  given  by  the  Spirit 
the  word  of  wisdom  ;  to  another  the  v^rord  of  knowledge  by  the  same 
Spirit;  to  another  faith  by  the  same  Spirit ;  to  another  the  discerning 
of  spirits :  but  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  every  man 
to  profit  withal.  As  every  man,  therefore,  hath  received  the  gift, 
even  so  minister  the  same  one  to  another  as  good  stewards  of  the 
manifold  grace  of  God."  In  the  face,  then,  of  such  instructions,  and 
with  such  assurances  of  an  all-sufficiency  of  divine  grace,  as  the 


i6o  Declaration  and  Address 


Church  has  received  from  her  exalted  Head,  we  can  neither  justly 
doubt  the  concurrence  of  her  genuine  members ;  nor  yet  their  abiUty, 
when  dutifully  acting  together,  to  accomplish  anything  that  is  neces- 
sary for  His  glory,  and  their  own  good  ;  and  certainly  their  visible 
unity  in  truth  and  holiness,  in  faith  and  love,  is,  of  all  things,  the 
most  conducive  to  both  these,  if  we  may  credit  the  dying  commands 
and  prayers  of  our  gracious  Lord.  In  a  matter,  therefore,  of  such 
confessed  importance,  our  Christian  brethren,  however  unhappily  dis- 
tinguished by  party  names,  will  not,  cannot,  withhold  their  helping 
hand.  We  are  as  heartily  willing  to  be  their  debtors,  as  they  are  in- 
dispensably bound  to  be  our  benefactors.  Come,  then,  dear  brethren, 
we  most  humbly  beseech  you,  cause  your  light  to  shine  upon  our 
weak  beginnings,  that  we  may  see  to  work  by  it.  Evince  your  zeal 
for  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  the  spiritual  welfare  of  your  fellow-Chris- 
tians, by  your  hearty  and  zealous  co-operation  to  promote  the  unity, 
purity,  and  prosperity  of  His  Church. 

Let  none  imagine  that  the  subjoined  propositions  are  at  all  in- 
tended as  an  overture  towards  a  new  creed  or  standard  for  the 
Church,  or  as  in  any  wise  designed  to  be  made  a  term  of  com- 
munion ;  nothing  can  be  further  from  our  intention. '  They  are 
merely  designed  for  opening  up  the  way,  that  we  may  come  fairly 
and  firmly  to  original  ground  upon  clear  and  certain  premises, 
and  take  up  things  just  as  the  apostles  left  them ;  that  thus  disen- 
tangled from  the  accruing  embarrassments  of  intervening  ages,  we 
may  stand  with  evidence  upon  the  same  ground  on  which  the  Church 
stood  at  the  beginning.  Having  said  so  much  to  solicit  attention  and 
prevent  mistake,  we  submit  as  follows  : 

Prop.  i.  That  the  Church  of  Christ  upon  earth  is  essentially, 
intentionally,  and  constitutionally  one ;  consisting  of  all  those  in 
every  place  that  profess  their  faith  in  Christ  and  obedience  to  Him 
in  all  things  according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  that  manifest  the  same 
by  their  tempers  and  conduct,  and  of  none  else ;  as  none  else  can  be 
truly  and  properly  called  Christians. 

2.  That  although  the  Church  of  Christ  upon  earth  must  neces- 
sarily exist  in  particular  and  distinct  societies,  locally  separate  one 
from  another,  yet  there  ought  to  be  no  schisms,  no  uncharitable 
divisions  among  them.  They  ought  to  receive  each  other  as  Christ 
Jesus  hath  also  received  them,  to  the  glory  of  God.  And  for  this 
purpose  they  ought  all  to  walk  by  the  same  rule,  to  mind  and  speak 


Declaration  and  Address  161 


the  same  thing;  and  to  be  perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same 
mind,  and  in  the  same  judgment. 

3.  That  in  order  to  do  this,  nothing  ought  to  be  inculcated  upon 
Christians  as  articles  of  faith ;  nor  required  of  them  as  terms  of  com- 
munion, but  what  is  expressly  taught  and  enjoined  upon  them  in  the 
word  of  God.  Nor  ought  anything  to  be  admitted,  as  of  divine  obli- 
gation, in  their  Church  constitution  and  managements,  but  what  is 
expressly  enjoined  by  the  authority  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
apostles  upon  the  New  Testament  Church ;  either  in  expressed  terms 
or  by  approved  precedent. 

4.  That  although  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
are  inseparably  connected,  making  together  but  one  perfect  and  entire 
revelation  of  the  divine  will,  for  the  edification  and  salvation  of  the 
Church,  and,  therefore,  in  that  respect  cannot  be  separated  ;  yet  as 
to  what  directly  and  properly  belongs  to  their  immediate  object,  the 
New  Testament  is  as  perfect  a  constitution  for  the  worship,  discipline, 
and  government  of  the  New  Testament  Church,  and  as  perfect  a  rule 
for  the  particular  duties  of  its  members,  as  the  Old  Testament  was 
for  the  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  the  Old  Testament 
Church,  and  the  particular  duties  of  its  members. 

5.  That  with  respect  to  the  commands  and  ordinances  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  where  the  Scriptures  are  silent  as  to  the  express 
time  or  manner  of  performance,  if  any  such  there  be,  no  human 
authority  has  power  to  interfere,  in  order  to  supply  the  supfMDsed  de- 
ficiency by  making  laws  for  the  Church  ;  nor  can  anything  more  be 
required  of  Christians  in  such  cases,  but  only  that  they  ^(7  observe  these 
commands  and  ordinances  as  will  evidently  answer  the  declared  and 
obvious  end  of  their  institution.  Much  less  has  any  human  authority 
power  to  impose  new  commands  or  ordinances  upon  the  Church, 
which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  not  enjoined.  Nothing  ought  to  be 
received  into  the  faith  or  worship  of  the  Church,  or  be  made  a  term 
of  communion  among  Christians,  that  is  not  as  old  as  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

6.  That  although  inferences  and  deductions  from  Scripture  pre- 
mises, when  fairly  inferred,  may  be  truly  called  the  doctrine  of  God's 
holy  word,  yet  are  they  not  formally  binding  upon  the  consciences  of 
Christians  farther  than  they  perceive  the  connection,  and  evidently 
see  that  they  are  so ;  for  their  faith  must  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of 
men,  but  in  the  power  and  veracity  of  God.    Therefore,  no  such  de- 


l62  Declaration  and  Address 


ductions  can  be  made  terms  of  communion,  but  do  properly  belong  to 
the  after  and  progressive  edification  of  the  Church.  Hence,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  no  such  deductions  or  inferential  truths  ought  to  have  any 
place  in  the  Church's  confession. 

7.  That  although  doctrinal  exhibitions  of  the  great  system  of 
divine  truths,  and  defensive  testimonies  in  opposition  to  prevailing 
errors,  be  highly  expedient,  and  the  more  full  and  explicit  they  be  for 
those  purposes,  the  better ;  yet,  as  these  must  be  in  a  great  measure 
the  effect  of  human  reasoning,  and  of  course  must  contain  many  in- 
ferential truths,  they  ought  not  to  be  made  terms  of  Christian  com- 
munion ;  unless  we  suppose,  what  is  contrary  to  fact,  that  none  have 
a  right  to  the  communion  of  the  Church,  but  such  as  possess  a  very 
clear  and  decisive  judgment,  or  are  come  to  a  very  high  degree  of 
doctrinal  information ;  whereas  the  Church  firom  the  beginning  did, 
and  ever  will,  consist  of  little  children  and  young  men,  as  well  as 
fathers. 

8.  That  as  it  is  not  necessary  that  persons  should  have  a  particular 
knowledge  or  distinct  apprehension  of  all  divinely  revealed  truths  in 
order  to  entitle  them  to  a  place  in  the  Church ;  neither  should  they, 
for  this  purpose,  be  required  to  make  a  profession  more  extensive 
than  their  knowledge ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  their  having  a  due 
measure  of  Scriptural  self-knowledge  respecting  their  lost  and  perish- 
ing  condition  by  nature  and  practice,  and  of  the  way  of  salvation 
through  Jesus  Christ,  accompanied  with  a  profession  of  their  faith  in 
and  obedience  to  Him,  in  all  things,  according  to  His  word,  is  all 
that  is  absolutely  necessary  to  qualify  them  for  admission  into  His 
Church. 

9.  That  all  that  are  enabled  through  grace  to  make  such  a  profes- 
sion, and  to  manifest  the  reality  of  it  in  their  tempers  and  conduct, 
should  consider  each  other  as  the  precious  saints  of  God,  should  love 
each  other  as  brethren,  children  of  the  same  family  and  Father, 
temples  of  the  same  Spirit,  members  of  the  same  body,  subjects  of  the 
same  grace,  objects  of  the  same  divine  love,  bought  with  the  same 
price,  and  joint-heirs  of  the  same  inheritance.  Whom  God  hath  thus 
joined  together  no  man  should  dare  to  put  asunder. 

10.  That  division  among  the  Christians  is  a  horrid  evil,  fraught 
with  many  evils.  It  is  antichristian,  as  it  destroys  the  visible  unity 
of  the  body  of  Christ ;  as  if  He  were  divided  against  Himself,  ex- 
cluding and  excommunicating  a  part  of  Himself.   It  is  antiscriptural, 


Declaration  and  Address  163 


as  being  strictly  prohibited  by  His  sovereign  authority ;  a  direct  vio- 
lation of  His  express  command.  It  is  antinatural,  as  it  excites 
Christians  to  contemn,  to  hate  and  to  oppose  one  another,  who  are 
bound  by  the  highest  and  most  endearing  obligations  to  love  each 
other  as  brethren,  even  as  Christ  has  loved  them.  In  a  word,  it  is 
productive  of  confusion  and  of  every  evil  work. 

11.  That  (in  some  instances)  a  partial  neglect  of  the  expressly 
revealed  will  of  God,  and  (in  others)  an  assumed  authority  for 
making  the  approbation  of  human  opinions  and  human  inventions  a 
term  of  communion,  by  introducing  them  into  the  constitution,  faith, 
or  worship  of  the  Church,  are,  and  have  been,  the  immediate,  ob- 
vious, and  universally  acknowledged  causes,  of  all  the  corruptions 
and  divisions  that  ever  have  taken  place  in  the  Church  of  God. 

12.  That  all  that  is  necessary  to  the  highest  state  of  perfection  and 
purity  of  the  Church  upon  earth  is,  first,  that  none  be  received  as 
members  but  such  as  having  that  due  measure  of  Scriptural  self- 
knowledge  described  above,  do  profess  their  faith  in  Christ  and  obe- 
dience to  Him  in  all  things  according  to  the  Scriptures  ;  nor,  sec- 
ondly, that  any  be  retained  in  her  communion  longer  than  they 
continue  to  manifest  the  reality  of  their  profession  by  their  temper 
and  conduct.  Thirdly,  that  her  ministers,  duly  and  Scripturally 
qualified,  inculcate  none  other  things  than  those  very  articles  of  faith 
and  holiness  expressly  revealed  and  enjoined  in  the  word  of  God. 
Lastly,  that  in  all  their  administrations  they  keep  close  by  the  obser- 
vance of  all  divine  ordinances,  after  the  example  of  the  primitive 
Church,  exhibited  in  the  New  Testament ;  without  any  additions 
whatsoever  of  human  opinions  or  inventions  of  men. 

13.  Lastly.  That  if  any  circumstantials  indispensably  necessary 
to  the  observance  of  divine  ordinances  be  not  found  upon  the  page  of 
express  revelation,  such,  and  such  only,  as  are  absolutely  necessary 
for  this  purpose  should  be  adopted  under  the  title  of  human  ex- 
pedients, without  any  pretense  to  a  more  sacred  origin,  so  that  any 
subsequent  alteration  or  difference  in  the  observance  of  these  things 
might  produce  no  contention  nor  division  in  the  Church. 

From  the  nature  and  construction  of  these  propositions,  it  will 
evidently  appear,  that  they  are  laid  in  a  designed  subserviency  to  the 
declared  end  of  our  association  ;  and  are  exhibited  for  the  express 
purpose  of  performing  a  duty  of  previous  necessity,  a  duty  loudly 
called  for  in  existing  circumstances  at  the  hand  of  every  one  that 


164  Declaration  and  Address 


would  desire  to  promote  the  interests  of  Zion ;  a  duty  not  only  en- 
joined, as  has  been  already  observed  from  Isaiah  Ivii.  14,  but  which  is 
also  there  predicted  of  the  faithful  remnant  as  a  thing  in  which  they 
would  voluntarily  engage.  "  He  that  putteth  his  trust  in  Me  shall 
possess  the  land,  and  shall  inherit  My  holy  mountain ;  and  shall  say, 
Cast  ye  up,  cast  ye  up,  prepare  the  way  ;  take  up  the  stumbUng  block 
out  of  the  way  of  My  people."  To  prepare  the  way  for  a  permanent 
Scriptural  unity  among  Christians,  by  calling  up  to  their  considera- 
tion fundamental  truths,  directing  their  attention  to  first  principles, 
clearing  the  way  before  them  by  removing  the  stumbling-blocks — the 
rubbish  of  ages,  which  has  been  thrown  upon  it,  and  fencing  it  on 
each  side,  that  in  advancing  towards  the  desired  object  they  may  not 
miss  the  way  through  mistake  or  inadvertency,  by  turning  aside  to 
the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  is,  at  least,  the  sincere  intention  of  the 
above  propositions.  It  remains  with  our  brethren  now  to  say,  how 
far  they  go  towards  answering  this  intention.  Do  they  exhibit  truths 
demonstrably  evident  in  the  light  of  Scripture  and  right  reason,  so 
that  to  deny  any  part  of  them  the  contrary  assertion  would  be  manifestly 
absurd  and  inadmissible  ?  Considered  as  a  preliminary  for  the  above 
purpose,  are  they  adequate,  so  that  if  acted  upon,  they  would  infallibly 
lead  to  the  desired  issue?  If  evidently  defective  in  either  of  these  re- 
spects, let  them  be  corrected  and  amended,  till  they  become  sufficiently 
evident,  adequate,  and  unexceptionable.  In  the  meantime  let  them 
be  examined  with  rigour,  with  all  the  rigour  that  justice,  candour,  and 
charity  will  admit.  If  we  have  mistaken  the  way,  we  shall  be  glad 
to  be  set  right ;  but  if,  in  the  meantime,  we  have  been  happily  led 
to  suggest  obvious  and  undeniable  truths,  which,  if  adopted  and  acted 
upon,  would  infallibly  lead  to  the  desired  unity,  and  secure  it  when 
obtained,  we  hope  it  will  be  no  objection  that  they  have  not  pro- 
ceeded from  a  General  Council.  It  is  not  the  voice  of  the  multitude, 
but  the  voice  of  truth,  that  has  power  with  the  conscience  ;  that  can 
produce  rational  conviction  and  acceptable  obedience.  A  conscience 
that  awaits  the  decision  of  the  multitude,  that  hangs  in  suspense  for 
the  casting  vote  of  the  majority,  is  a  fit  subject  for  the  man  of  sin. 
This,  we  are  persuaded,  is  the  uniform  sentiment  of  real  Christians  of 
every  denomination.  Would  to  God  that  all  professors  were  such, 
then  should  our  eyes  soon  behold  the  prosperity  of  Zion ;  we 
should  soon  see  Jerusalem  a  quiet  habitation.  Union  in  truth  has 
been,  and  ever  must  be,  the  desire  and  prayer  of  all  such ;  "  Union  in 


Declaration  and  Address  165 


Truth  "  is  our  motto.  The  divine  word  is  our  standard  ;  in  the  Lord's 
name  do  we  display  our  banners.  Our  eyes  are  upon  the  promises, 
"  So  shall  they  fear  the  name  of  the  Lord  from  the  west,  and  His 
glory  from  the  rising  of  the  sun."  "  When  the  enemy  shall  come  in 
like  a  flood  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a  standard  against 
him."  Our  humble  desire  is  to  be  His  standard-bearers,  to  fight 
under  His  banner,  and  with  His  weapons,  "  which  are  not  carnal,  but 
mighty  through  God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds ;  "  even  all 
these  strongholds  of  division,  those  partition  walls  of  separation, 
which,  like  the  walls  of  Jericho,  have  been  built  up,  as  it  were,  to  the 
very  heavens,  to  separate  God's  people,  to  divide  His  flock  and  so  to 
prevent  them  from  entering  into  their  promised  rest,  at  least  in  so 
far  as  it  respects  this  world.  An  enemy  hath  done  this,  but  he  shall 
not  finally  prevail ;  "  for  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth,  and  shall 
delight  themselves  in  the  abundance  of  peace."  "  And  the  kingdom 
and  dominion,  even  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole 
heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  samts  of  the  Most  High, 
and  they  shall  possess  it  forever."  But  this  cannot  be  in  their  pres- 
ent broken  and  divided  state  ;  "  for  a  kingdom  or  a  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand  ;  but  cometh  to  desolation."  Now  this  has 
been  the  case  with  the  Church  for  a  long  time.  However, "  the  Lord 
will  not  cast  off  His  people,  neither  will  He  forsake  His  heritage  ;  but 
judgment  shall  return  unto  righteousness,  and  all  the  upright  in  heart 
shall  ^follow  it."  To  all  such,  and  such  alone,  are  our  expectations 
directed.  Come,  then,  ye  blessed  of  the  Lord,  we  have  your  prayers, 
let  us  also  have  your  actual  assistance.  What,  shall  we  pray  for  a 
thing  and  not  strive  to  obtain  it ! 

We  call,  we  invite  you  again,  by  every  consideration  in  these 
premises.  You  that  are  near,  associate  with  us  ;  you  that  are  at  too 
great  a  distance,  associate  as  we  have  done.  Let  not  the  paucity  of 
your  number  in  any  given  district,  prove  an  insuperable  discourage- 
ment. Remember  Him  that  has  said,  "  If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on 
earth  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for 
them  of  My  Father  who  is  in  heaven :  for  where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  My  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them." 
With  such  a  promise  as  this,  for  the  attainment  of  every  possible  and 
promised  good,  there  is  no  room  for  discouragement.  Come,  then, 
"  ye  that  fear  the  Lord ;  keep  not  silence,  and  give  Him  no  rest 
till  He  make  Jerusalem  a  joy  and  a  praise  in  the  earth."   Put  on  that 


i66  Declaration  and  Address 


noble  resolution  dictated  by  the  prophet,  saying,  "  For  Zion's  sake 
will  we  not  hold  our  peace,  and  for  Jerusalem's  sake  we  will  not  rest, 
until  the  righteousness  thereof  go  forth  as  brightness,  and  the  salva- 
tion thereof  as  a  lamp  that  burneth."  Thus  impressed,  you  will  find 
means  to  associate  at  such  convenient  distances,  as  to  meet  at  least 
once  a  month ;  to  beseech  the  Lord  to  put  an  end  to  our  lamentable 
divisions  ;  to  heal  and  unite  His  people,  that  His  Church  may  resume 
her  original  constitutional  unity  and  purity,  and  thus  be  exalted  to 
the  enjoyment  of  her  promised  prosperity,  that  the  Jews  may  be 
speedily  converted,  and  the  fullness  of  the  Gentiles  brought  in. 
Thus  associated,  you  will  be  in  a  capacity  to  investigate  the  evil 
causes  of  our  sad  divisions ;  to  consider  and  bewail  their  pernicious 
effects ;  and  to  mourn  over  them  before  the  Lord — who  hath  said  : 
"  I  will  go  and  return  to  My  place,  till  they  acknowledge  their  offense 
and  seek  My  face."  Alas !  then,  what  reasonable  prospect  can  we 
have  of  being  delivered  from  those  sad  calamities,  which  have  so 
long  afflicted  the  Church  of  God ;  while  a  party  spirit,  instead  of  be- 
wailing, is  everywhere  justifying,  the  bitter  principle  of  these  perni- 
cious evils ;  by  insisting  upon  the  right  of  rejecting  those,  however  un- 
exceptionable in  other  respects,  who  cannot  see  with  them  in  matters 
of  private  opinion,  of  human  inference,  that  are  nowhere  expressly 
revealed  or  enjoined  in  the  word  of  God.  Thus  associated,  will  the 
friends  of  peace,  the  advocates  for  Christian  unity,  be  in  a  capacity  to 
connect  in  larger  circles,  where  several  of  those  smaller  societies  may 
meet  semi-annually  at  a  convenient  centre;  and  thus  avail  themselves 
of  their  combined  exertions  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the  com- 
mon cause.  We  hope  that  many  of  the  Lord's  ministers  in  all 
places  will  volunteer  in  this  service,  forasmuch  as  they  know  it  is 
His  favourite  work,  the  very  desire  of  His  soul. 

You  lovers  of  Jesus,  and  beloved  of  Him,  however  scattered  in  this 
cloudy  and  dark  day,  you  love  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ;  (if  our  hearts 
deceive  us  not)  so  do  we.  You  desire  union  in  Christ  with  all  them 
that  love  Him  ;  so  do  we.  You  lament  and  bewail  our  sad  divisions  ; 
so  do  we.  You  reject  the  doctrines  and  commandments  of  men,  that 
you  may  keep  the  law  of  Christ;  so  do  we.  You  believe  that  the  word 
itself  ought  to  be  our  rule,  and  not  any  human  explication  of  it ;  so  do 
we.  You  believe  that  no  man  has  a  right  to  judge,  to  exclude,  or 
reject  his  professing  Christian  brother,  except  in  so  far  as  he  stands 
condemned  or  rejected  by  the  express  letter  of  the  law ;  so  do  we. 


Declaration  and  Address  167 


You  believe  that  the  great  fundamental  law  of  unity  and  love  ought 
not  to  be  violated  to  make  way  for  exalting  human  opinions  to  an 
equality  with  express  revelation,  by  making  them  articles  of  faith  and 
terms  of  communion  ;  so  do  we.  You  sincere  and  impartial  followers 
of  Jesus,  friends  of  truth  and  peace,  we  dare  not,  we  cannot  think 
otherwise  of  you ;  it  would  be  doing  violence  to  your  character ; 
it  would  be  inconsistent  with  your  prayers  and  profession  so  to 
do.  We  shall,  therefore,  have  your  hearty  concurrence.  But  if  any 
of  our  dear  brethren,  from  whom  we  should  expect  better  things, 
should,  through  weakness  or  prejudice,  be  in  anything  otherwise 
minded  than  we  have  ventured  to  suppose,  we  charitably  hope 
that,  in  due  time,  God  will  reveal  even  this  unto  them ;  only  let 
such  neither  refuse  to  come  to  the  light,  nor  yet,  through  prejudice, 
reject  it  when  it  shines  upon  them.  Let  them  rather  seriously  con- 
sider what  we  have  thus  most  seriously  and  respectfully  submitted  to 
their  consideration ;  weigh  every  sentiment  in  the  balance  of  the 
sanctuary,  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  with  earnest  prayer  for,  and  hum- 
ble reliance  upon.  His  Spirit,  and  not  in  the  spirit  of  self-sufficiency 
and  party  zeal ;  and,  in  so  doing,  we  rest  assured,  the  consequence 
will  be  happy,  both  for  their  own  and  the  Church's  peace.  Let  none 
imagine,  that  in  so  saying,  we  arrogate  to  ourselves  a  degree  of  in- 
telligence superior  to  our  brethren ;  much  less  superior  to  mistake. 
So  far  from  this,  our  confidence  is  entirely  founded  upon  the  express 
Scripture  and  matter-of-fact  evidence  of  the  things  referred  to ; 
which  may,  nevertheless,  through  inattention  or  prejudice,  fail  to 
produce  their  proper  effect,  as  has  been  the  case  with  respect  to 
some  of  the  most  evident  truths  in  a  thousand  instances.  But 
charity  thinketh  no  evil ;  and  we  are  far  from  surmising,  though  we 
must  speak.  To  warn,  even  against  possible  evils,  is  certainly  no 
breach  of  charity,  as  to  be  confident  of  the  certainty  of  some  things 
is  no  just  argument  of  presumption.  We  by  no  means  claim  the 
approbation  of  our  brethren  as  to  anything  we  have  suggested  for 
promoting  the  sacred  cause  of  Christian  unity,  further  than  it  carries 
its  own  evidence  along  with  it ;  but  we  humbly  claim  a  fair  investi- 
gation of  the  subject,  and  solicit  the  assistance  of  our  brethren  for 
carrying  into  effect  what  we  have  thus  weakly  attempted.  It  is  our 
consolation,  in  the  meantime,  that  the  desired  event,  as  certain  as  it 
will  be  happy  and  glorious,  admits  of  no  dispute,  however  we  may 
hesitate  or  differ  about  the  proper  means  of  promoting  it.    All  we 


i68  Declaration  and  Address 


shall  venture  to  say  as  to  this  is,  that  we  trust  we  have  taken  the 
proper  ground ;  at  least,  if  we  have  not,  we  despair  of  finding  it  else- 
where. For,  if  holding  fast  in  profession  and  practice  whatever  is 
expressly  revealed  and  enjoined  in  the  divine  standard  does  not,  un- 
der the  promised  influence  of  the  divine  Spirit,  prove  an  adequate 
basis  for  promoting  and  maintaining  unity,  peace,  and  purity,  we 
utterly  despair  of  attaining  those  invaluable  pnvileges,  by  adopting 
the  standard  of  any  party.  To  advocate  the  cause  of  unity,  whUe 
espousing  the  interests  of  a  party,  would  appear  as  absurd  as  for  this 
country  to  take  part  with  either  of  the  belligerents  in  the  present 
awful  struggle,  which  has  convulsed  and  is  convulsing,  the  nations, 
in  order  to  maintain  her  neutrality  and  secure  her  peace.  Nay,  it 
would  be  adopting  the  very  means  by  which  the  bewildered  Church 
has,  for  hundreds  of  years  past,  been  rending  and  dividing  herself 
into  factions,  for  Christ's  sake,  and  for  the  truth's  sake  ;  though  the 
first  and  foundation  truth  of  our  Christianity  is  union  with  Him,  and 
the  very  next  to  it  in  order,  union  with  each  other  in  Him — "  that 
we  receive  each  other,  as  Christ  has  also  received  us,  to  the  glory  of 
God."  "  For  this  is  His  commandment :  That  we  believe  in  His  Son 
Jesus  Christ,  and  love  one  another,  as  He  gave  us  commandment. 
And  he  that  keepeth  His  commandments  dwelleth  in  Him,  and  He 
in  him ;  and  hereby  we  know  that  He  dweUeth  in  us,  by  the  Spirit 
which  He  hath  given  us,"  even  the  spirit  of  faith,  and  of  love,  and 
of  a  sound  mind.  And  surely  this  should  [suffice  us.  But  how  to 
love  and  receive  our  brother,  as  we  believe  and  hope  Christ  has  re- 
ceived both  him  and  us,  and  yet  refuse  to  hold  communion  with 
him,  is,  we  confess,  a  mystery  too  deep  for  us.  If  this  be  the  way 
that  Christ  hath  received  us,  then  woe  is  unto  us.  We  do  not  here 
intend  a  professed  brother  transgressing  the  expressed  letter  of  the 
law,  and  refusing  to  be  reclaimed.  Whatever  may  be  our  charity  in 
such  a  case,  we  have  not  sufficient  evidence  that  Christ  has  received 
him,  or  that  he  has  received  Christ  as  his  teacher  and  Lord.  To 
adopt  means,  then,  apparently  subversive  of  the  very  end  proposed, 
means  which  the  experience  of  ages  has  evinced  successful  only  in 
overthrowing  the  visible  interests  of  Christianity,  in  counteracting, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  declared  intention,  the  expressed  command  of 
its  divine  Author,  would  appear  in  no  wise  a  prudent  measure  for 
removing  and  preventing  those  evils.  To  maintain  unity  and  purity 
has  always  been  the  plausible  pretense  of  the  compilers  and  abettors 


Declaration  and  Address  169 


of  human  systems,  and  we  believe,  in  many  instances,  their  sincere 
intention ;  but  have  they  at  all  answered  the  end  ?  Confessedly,  de- 
monstrably, they  have  not ;  no,  not  even  in  the  several  parties  which 
have  most  strictly  adopted  them ;  much  less  to  the  catholic  professing 
body.  Instead  of  her  catholic  constitutional  unity  and  purity,  what 
does  the  Church  present  us  with,  at  this  day,  but  a  catalogue  of  sects 
and  sectarian  systems — each  binding  its  respective  party,  by  the  most 
sacred  and  solemn  engagements,  to  continue  as  it  is  to  the  end  of  the 
world;  at  least,  this  is  confessedly  the  case  with  many  of  them. 
What  a  sorry  substitute  these  for  Christian  unity  and  love !  On  the 
other  hand,  what  a  mercy  is  it  that  no  human  obligation  that  man 
can  come  under  is  valid  against  the  truth.  When  the  Lord  the 
Healer  descends  upon  His  people,  to  give  them  a  discovery  of  the 
nature  and  tendency  of  those  artificial  bonds  wherewith  they  have 
suffered  themselves  to  be  bound  in  their  dark  and  sleepy  condition, 
they  will  no  more  be  able  to  hold  them  in  a  state  of  sectarian  bond- 
age than  the  withes  and  cords  with  which  the  Philistines  bound 
Samson  were  able  to  retain  him  their  prisoner,  or  than  the 
bonds  of  antichrist  were  to  hold  in  captivity  the  fathers  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. May  the  Lord  soon  open  the  eyes  of  His  people  to  see 
things  in  their  true  light,  and  excite  them  to  come  up  out  of  their 
wilderness  condition,  out  of  this  Babel  of  confusion,  leaning  upon 
their  Beloved,  and  embracing  each  other  in  Him,  holding  fast  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  This  gracious  unity  and 
unanimity  in  Jesus  would  afford  the  best  external  evidence  of  their 
union  with  Him,  and  of  their  conjoint  interest  in  the  Father's  love. 
"  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples,"  says  He,  "  if 
ye  have  love  one  to  another."  And  "This  is  My  commandment,  That 
ye  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you  ;  that  ye  also  love  one  an- 
other." And  again,  "  Holy  Father,  keep  through  Thine  own  name  those 
whom  Thou  hast  given  Me,  that  they  may  be  one,  as  We  are  ;  "  even 
"  all  that  shall  believe  in  Me  ;  that  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  Thou,  Fa- 
ther, art  in  Me  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  Us :  that 
the  world  may  believe  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me.  And  the  glory  which 
Thou  gavest  Me,  I  have  given  them  ;  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as 
We  are  one  ;  I  in  them,  and  Thou  in  Me,  that  they  may  be  made  per- 
fect in  one ;  and  that  the  world  may  know  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me, 
and  hast  loved  them  as  Thou  hast  loved  Me."  May  the  Lord  hasten 
it  in  His  time.  Farewell. 


1 70  Declaration  and  Address 

Peace  be  with  all  them  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincer. 
ity.  Amen. 

THOMAS  CAMPBELL, 
THOMAS  ACHESON. 

Washington,  Pa., 

September  7,  i8og. 

Appendix 

To  prevent  mistakes,  we  beg  leave  to  subjoin  the  following  ex- 
planations. As  to  what  we  have  done,  our  reasons  for  so  doing, 
and  the  grand  object  we  would  desire  to  see  accomplished,  all  these, 
we  presume,  are  sufficiently  declared  in  the  foregoing  pages.  As  to 
what  we  intend  to  do  in  our  associate  capacity,  and  the  ground  we 
have  taken  in  that  capacity,  though  expressly  and  definitely  declared, 
yet  these,  perhaps,  might  be  liable  to  some  misconstruction.  First,  ■ 
then,  we  beg  leave  to  assure  our  brethren  that  we  have  no  intention 
to  interfere,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  with  the  peace  and  order 
of  the  settled  Churches,  by  directing  any  ministerial  assistance  with 
which  the  Lord  may  please  to  favour  us,  to  make  inroads  upon  such ; 
or  by  endeavouring  to  erect  Churches  out  of  Churches,  to  distract 
and  divide  congregations.  We  have  no  nostrum,  no  peculiar  dis- 
covery of  our  own  to  propose  to  fellow-Christians,  for  the  fancied  im- 
portance of  which  they  should  become  followers  of  us.  We  propose 
to  patronize  nothing  but  the  inculcation  of  the  express  word  of  God, 
either  as  to  matter  of  faith  or  practice ;  but  every  one  that  has  a 
Bible,  and  can  read  it,  can  read  this  for  himself.  Therefore,  we  have 
nothing  new.  Neither  do  we  pretend  to  acknowledge  persons  to  be 
ministers  of  Christ,  and,  at  the  same  time,  consider  it  our  duty  to  for- 
bid or  discourage  people  to  go  to  hear  them,  merely  because  they 
may  hold  some  things  disagreeable  to  us ;  much  less  to  encourage 
their  people  to  leave  them  on  that  account.  And  such  do  we  esteem 
all  who  preach  a  free,  unconditional  salvation  through  the  blood 
of  Jesus  to  perishing  sinners  of  every  description,  and  who  manifestly 
connect  with  this  a  life  of  holiness  and  pastoral  diligence  in  the  per- 
formance of  all  the  duties  of  their  sacred  office,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  of  even  all  of  whom,  as  to  all  appearance,  it  may  be  truly 
said  to  the  objects  of  their  charge  :  "  They  seek  aoi yours,  but  you." 


Declaration  and  Address  171 


May  the  good  Lord  prosper  all  such,  by  whatever  name  they  are 
called,  and  hasten  that  happy  period  ■when  Zion's  watchmen  shall 
see  eye  to  eye,  and  all  be  called  by  the  same  name.  Such,  then, 
have  nothing  to  fear  frorn  our  association,  were  our  resources 
equal  to  our  utmost  wishes.  But  all  others  we  esteem  as  hirelings, 
as  idle  shepherds,  and  should  be  glad  to  see  the  Lord's  flock  de- 
livered from  their  mouth,  according  to  His  promise.  Our  principal 
and  proper  design,  then,  with  respect  to  ministerial  assistants,  such 
as  we  have  described  in  our  fifth  resolution,  is  to  direct  their  atten- 
tion to  those  places  where  there  is  manifest  need  for  their  labours ; 
and  many  such  places  there  are ;  would  to  God  it  were  in  our 
power  to  supply  them.  As  to  creeds  and  confessions,  although  we 
may  appear  to  our  brethren  to  oppose  them,  yet  this  is  to  be  under- 
stood only  in  so  far  as  they  oppose  the  unity  of  the  Church,  by  con- 
taining sentiments  not  expressly  revealed  in  the  word  of  God  ;  or,  by 
the  way  of  using  them,  become  the  instruments  of  a  human  or 
implicit  faith,  or  oppress  the  weak  of  God's  heritage.  Where  they 
are  liable  to  none  of  those  objections,  we  have  nothing  against  them. 
It  is  the  abuse  and  not  the  lawful  use  of  such  compilations  that  we 
oppose.  See  Proposition  7.  Our  intention,  therefore,  with  respect 
to  all  the  Churches  of  Christ  is  perfectly  amicable.  We  heartily  wish 
their  reformation,  but  by  no  means  their  hurt  or  confusion.  Should 
any  affect  to  say  that  our  coming  forward  as  we  have  done,  in  ad- 
vancing and  publishing  such  things,  has  a  manifest  tendency  to 
distract  and  divide  the  Churches,  or  to  make  a  new  party,  we  treat 
it  as  a  confident  and  groundless  assertion,  and  must  suppose  they 
have  not  duly  considered,  or,  at  least,  not  well  understood  the 
subject. 

All  we  shall  say  to  this  at  present,  is,  that  if  the  divine  word  be 
not  the  standard  of  a  party,  then  are  we  not  a  party,  for  we  have 
adopted  no  other.  .  If  to  maintain  its  alone  sufficiency  be  not  a  party 
principle,  then  are  we  not  a  party.  If  to  justify  this  principle  by  our 
practice,  in  making  a  rule  of  it,  and  of  it  alone,  and  not  of  our  own 
opinions,  nor  of  those  of  others,  be  not  a  party  principle,  then  are 
we  not  a  party.  If  to  propose  and  practice  neither  more  nor  less 
than  it  expressly  reveals  and  enjoins  be  not  a  partial  business,  then 
are  we  not  a  party.  These  are  the  very  sentiments  we  have  approved 
and  recommended,  as  a  society  formed  for  the  express  purpose  of 
promoting  Christian  unity,  in  opposition  to  a  party  spirit.  Should 


172  Declaration  and  Address 


any  tell  us  that  to  do  these  things  is  impossible  without  the  inter- 
vention of  human  reason  and  opinion,  we  humbly  thank  them  for 
the  discovery.  But  who  ever  thought  otherwise  ?  Were  we  not 
rational  subjects,  and  of  course  capable  of  understanding  and  forming 
opinions,  would  it  not  evidently  appear  that,  to  us,  revelation  of 
any  kind  would  be  quite  useless,  even  suppose  it  as  evident  as 
mathematics?  We  pretend  not,  therefore,  to  divest  ourselves  of 
reason,  that  we  may  become  quiet,  inoffensive,  and  peaceable  Chris- 
tians; nor  yet,  of  any  of  its  proper  and  legitimate  operations  upon 
divinely  revealed  truths.  We  only  pretend  to  assert,  what  every  one 
that  pretends  to  reason  must  acknowledge,  namely,  that  there  is  a 
manifest  distinction  between  an  express  Scripture  declaration,  and  the 
conclusion  or  inference  which  may  be  deduced  from  it ;  and  that  the 
former  may  be  clearly  understood,  even  where  the  latter  is  but  im- 
perfectly if  at  all  perceived ;  and  that  we  are  at  least  as  certain  of 
the  declaration  as  we  can  be  of  the  conclusion  we  drew  from  it ; 
and  that,  after  all,  the  conclusion  ought  not  to  be  exalted  above  the 
premises,  so  as  to  make  void  the  declaration  for  the  sake  of  establish- 
ing our  own  conclusion ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  express  commands 
to  preserve  and  maintain  inviolate  Christian  unity  and  love,  ought  not 
to  be  set  aside  to  make  way  for  exalting  our  inferences  above  the 
express  authority  of  God.  Our  inference,  upon  the  whole,  is,  that 
where  a  professing  Christian  brother  opposes  or  refuses  nothing  either 
in  faith  or  practice,  for  which  there  can  be  expressly  produced  a 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  that  we  ought  not  to  reject  him  because  he 
cannot  see  with  our  eyes  as  to  matters  of  human  inference,  of 
private  judgment.  "  Through  thy  knowledge  shall  the  weak 
brother  perish  ?  Now  walkest  thou  not  charitably  ?  "  Thus  we  rea- 
son, thus  we  conclude,  to  make  no  conclusion  of  our  own,  nor  of  any 
other  fallible  fellow-creature,  a  rule  of  faith  or  duty  to  our  brother. 
Whether  we  refuse  reason,  then,  or  abuse  it,  in  our  so  doing,  let  our 
brethren  judge.  But,  after  all,  we  have  only  ventured  to  suggest 
what,  in  other  words,  the  apostle  has  expressly  taught ;  namely, 
that  the  strong  ought  to  bear  with  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and 
not  to  please  themselves ;  that  we  ought  to  receive  him  that  is 
weak  in  the  faith,  because  God  has  received  him.  In  a  word,  that 
we  ought  to  receive  one  another,  as  Christ  hath  also  received  us  to 
the  glory  of  God.  We  dare  not,  therefore,  patronize  the  rejection  of 
God's  dear  children,  because  they  may  not  be  able  to  see  alike  in 


Declaration  and  Address  1 73 


matters  of  human  inference — of  private  opinion ;  and  such  we  esteem 
all  things  not  expressly  revealed  and  enjoined  in  the  word  of  God. 
If  otherwrise,  we  know  not  what  private  opinion  means.  On  the 
other  hand,  should  our  peaceful  and  affectionate  overture  for  union 
in  truth  prove  offensive  to  any  of  our  brethren,  or  occasion  dis- 
turbances in  any  of  the  Churches,  the  blame  cannot  be  attached  to  us. 
We  have  only  ventured  to  persuade,  and,  if  possible,  to  excite  to 
the  performance  of  an  important  duty — a  duty  equally  incumbent 
upon  us  all.  Neither  have  we  pretended  to  dictate  to  them  what 
they  should  do.  We  have  only  proposed  what  appeared  to  us  most 
likely  to  promote  the  desired  event,  humbly  submitting  the  whole 
premises  to  their  candid  and  impartial  investigation,  to  be  altered, 
corrected,  and  amended,  as  they  see  cause,  or  to  adopt  any  other 
plan  that  may  appear  more  just  and  unexceptionable.  As  for 
ourselves,  we  have  taken  all  due  care,  in  the  meantime,  to  take  no 
step  that  might  throw  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way,  that  might 
prove  now,  or  at  any  future  period,  a  barrier  to  prevent  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  most  desirable  object,  either  by  joining  to  support 
a  party,  or  by  patronizing  anything  as  articles  of  faith  or  duty 
not  expressly  enjoined  in  the  divine  standard ;  as  we  are  sure, 
whatever  alterations  may  take  place,  that  will  stand.  That  con- 
siderable alterations  must  and  will  take  place,  in  the  standards 
of  all  the  sects,  before  that  glorious  object  can  be  accomplished, 
no  man,  that  duly  considers  the  matter,  can  possibly  doubt.  In  so 
far,  then,  we  have  at  least  endeavoured  to  act  consistently ;  and  with 
the  same  consistency  would  desire  to  be  instrumental  in  erecting  as 
many  Churches  as  possible  throughout  the  desolate  places  of  God's 
heritage,  upon  the  same  catholic  foundation,  being  well  persuaded 
that  every  such  erection  will  not  only  in  the  issue  prove  an  acces- 
sion to  the  general  cause,  but  will  also,  in  the  meantime,  be  a  step 
towards  it,  and,  of  course,  will  reap  the  first-fruits  of  that  blissful 
harvest  that  will  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit.  For  if  the  first 
Christian  Churches,  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  in  holy  unity 
and  unanimity,  enjoyed  the  comforts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  were 
increased  and  edified,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  walking  in 
their  footsteps  will  everywhere  and  at  all  times  insure  the  same 
blessed  privileges.  And  it  is  in  an  exact  conformity  to  their 
recorded  and  approved  example,  that  we,  through  grace,  would  be 
desirous  to  promote  the  erection  of  Churches ;  and  this  we  believe  tg 


1 74  Declaration  and  Address 


be  quite  practicable,  if  the  legible  and  authentic  records  of  their 
faith  and  practice  be  handed  down  to  us  upon  the  page  of  New 
Testament  Scripture ;  but  if  otherwise,  we  cannot  help  it.  Yet,  even 
in  this  case,  might  we  not  humbly  presume  that  the  Lord  would  take 
the  will  for  the  deed?  for  if  there  be  first  a  willing  mind,  we  are 
told,  "  it  is  accepted  according  to  what  a  man  hath,  and  not  according 
to  what  he  hath  not."  It  would  appear,  then,  that  sincerely  and 
humbly  adopting  this  model,  with  an  entire  reliance  upon  promised 
grace,  we  cannot,  we  shall  not,  be  disappointed.  By  this,  at  least, 
we  shall  get  rid  of  two  great  evils,  which,  we  fear,  are  at  this  day 
grievously  provoking  the  Lord  to  plead  a  controversy  with  the 
Churches :  we  mean  the  taking  and  giving  of  unjust  offenses  ;  judg- 
ing and  rejecting  each  other  in  matters  wherein  the  Lord  hath  not 
judged,  in  a  fiat  contradiction  to  His  expressly  revealed  will.  But, 
according  to  the  principle  adopted,  we  can  neither  take  offense  at 
our  brother  for  his  private  opinions,  if  he  be  content  to  hold  them  as 
such,  nor  yet  offend  him  with  ours,  if  he  do  not  usurp  the  place  of 
the  lawgiver;  and  even  suppose  he  should,  in  this  case  we  judge  him, 
not  for  his  opinions,  but  for  his  presumption.  "  There  is  one  Law- 
giver, who  is  able  to  save  and  to  destroy  :  who  art  thou  that  judgest 
another  ?  "  But  further,  to  prevent  mistakes,  we  beg  leave  to  ex. 
plain  our  meaning  in  a  sentence  or  two  which  might  possibly  be 
misunderstood.  In  the  opening  pages  we  say,  that  no  man  has  a  right 
to  judge  his  brother,  except  in  so  far  as  he  manifestly  violates  the  ex- 
press letter  of  the  law.  By  the  law  here,  and  elsewhere,  when  taken 
in  this  latitude,  we  mean  that  whole  revelation  of  faith  and  duty  ex- 
pressly declared  in  the  divine  word,  taken  together,  or  in  its  due 
connection,  upon  every  article,  and  not  any  detached  sentence.  We 
understand  it  as  extending  to  all  prohibitions,  as  well  as  to  aU  re- 
quirements. "  Add  thou  not  unto  His  words,  lest  He  reprove  thee, 
and  thou  be  found  a  liar."  We  dare,  therefore,  neither  do  nor  receive 
anything  as  of  divine  obligation  for  which  there  cannot  be  expressly 
produced  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  either  in  express  terms,  or  by 
approved  precedent.  According  to  this  rule  we  judge,  and  beyond 
it  we  dare  not  go.  Taking  this  sentiment  in  connection  with  the  last 
clause  of  the  fifth  resolution,  we  are  to  be  understood,  of  all  matters 
of  faith  and  practice,  of  primary  and  universal  obligation ;  that  is  to 
say,  of  express  revelation;  that  nothing  be  inculcated,  as  such,  for 
which  there  cannot  be  expressly  produced  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord," 


Declaration  and  Address  175 


as  above,  without,  at  the  same  time,  interfering  directly  or  indirectly 
with  the  private  judgment  of  any  individual,  which  does  not  ex- 
pressly contradict  the  express  letter  of  the  law,  or  add  to  the  number 
of  its  institutions.  Every  sincere  and  upright  Christian  will  under- 
stand and  do  the  will  of  God,  in  every  instance,  to  the  best  of  his 
skill  and  judgment ;  but  in  the  application  of  the  general  rule  to 
particular  cases  there  may,  and  doubtless  will,  be  some  variety  of 
opinion  and  practice.  This,  we  see,  was  actually  the  case  in  the 
apostolic  Churches,  without  any  breach  of  Christian  unity ;  and  if 
this  was  the  case  at  the  erection  of  the  Christian  Church  from  among 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  may  we  not  reasonably  expect  that  it  will  be  the 
same  at  her  restoration  from  under  her  long  antichristian  and  sectarian 
desolations  ? 

With  a  direct  reference  to  this  state  of  things,  and,  as  we  humbly 
think,  in  a  perfect  consistency  with  the  foregoing  explanations,  have 
we  expressed  ourselves  previously,  wherein  we  declare  ourselves 
ready  to  relinquish  whatever  we  have  hitherto  received  as  matter 
of  faith  or  practice,  not  expressly  taught  and  enjoined  in  the  word 
of  God,  so  that  we  and  our  brethren  might,  by  this  mutual  con- 
cession, return  together  to  the  original  constitutional  unity  of  the 
Christian  Church,  and  dwell  together  in  peace  and  charity.  By  this 
proposed  relinquishment  we  are  to  be  understood,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, of  our  manner  of  holdmg  those  things,  and  not  simply  of  the 
things  themselves ;  for  no  man  can  relinquish  his  opinions  or  prac- 
tices till  once  convinced  that  they  are  wrong  ;  and  this  he  may  not 
be  immediately,  even  supposing  they  were  so.  One  thing,  however, 
he  may  do  :  when  not  bound  by  an  express  command,  he  need  not 
impose  them  upon  others,  by  any  wise  requiring  their  approbation  ; 
and  when  this  is  done,  the  things,  to  them,  are  as  good  as  dead, 
yea,  as  good  as  buried,  too,  being  thus  removed  out  of  the  way. 
Has  not  the  apostle  set  us  a  noble  example  of  this  in  his  pious  and 
charitable  zeal  for  the  comfort  and  edification  of  his  brother,  in  de- 
claring himself  ready  to  forego  his  rights  (not  indeed  to  break  com- 
mandments) rather  than  stumble,  or  offend,  his  brother  ?  And  who 
knows  not  that  the  Hebrew  Christians  abstained  from  certain  meats, 
observed  certain  days,  kept  the  passover,  circumcised  their  children, 
etc.,  etc.,  while  no  such  things  were  practiced  by  the  Gentile  con- 
verts, and  yet  no  breach  of  unity  while  they  charitably  forbore 
one  with  the  other.    But  had  the  Jews  been  expressly  prohibited,  or 


176  Declaration  and  Address 


the  Gentiles  expressly  enjoined,  by  the  authority  of  Jesus,  to  observe 
these  things,  could  they,  in  such  a  case,  have  lawfully  exercised  this 
forbearance  ?  But  where  no  express  law  is,  there  can  be  no  formal, 
no  intentional  transgression,  even  although  its  implicit  and  necessary 
consequences  had  forbid  the  thing,  had  they  been  discovered.  Upon 
the  whole,  we  see  one  thing  is  evident :  the  Lord  will  bear  with  the 
weaknesses,  the  involuntary  ignorances,  and  mistakes  of  His  people, 
though  not  with  their  presumption.  Ought  they  not,  therefore,  to 
bear  with  each  other — "  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace ;  forbearing  one  with  another  in  love  ?  "  WTiat  says 
the  Scripture  ?  We  say,  then,  the  declaration  referred  to  is  to  be 
thus  understood  in  the  first  instance  ;  though  we  do  not  say  but 
something  further  is  intended.  For  certainly  we  may  lawfully  sus- 
pend both  declaration  and  practice  upon  any  subject,  where  the  law 
is  silent ;  when  to  do  otherwise  must  prevent  the  accomplishment  of 
an  expressly  commanded  and  highly  important  duty ;  and  such, 
confessedly,  is  the  thing  in  question.  What  says  the  apostle  ? 
"  All  things  are  lawful  for  me  ;  but  all  things  are  not  expedient.  All 
things  are  lawful  for  me  ;  but  all  things  edify  not."  It  seems,  then, 
that  among  lawful  things  which  might  be  forborne — that  is,  as  we 
humbly  conceive,  things  not  expressly  commanded — the  governing 
principle  of  the  apostle's  conduct  was  the  edification  of  his  brethren 
of  the  Church  of  God.  A  divine  principle  this,  indeed  !  May  the 
Lord  God  infuse  it  into  all  His  people.  Were  all  those  nonpreceptive 
opinions  and  practices  which  have  been  maintained  and  exalted  to 
the  destruction  of  the  Church's  unity,  counterbalanced  with  the 
breach  of  the  express  law  of  Christ,  and  the  black  catalogue  of  mis- 
chiefs which  have  necessarily  ensued,  on  which  side,  think  you, 
would  be  the  preponderance  ?  When  weighed  in  the  balance  with 
this  monstrous  complex  evil,  would  they  not  all  appear  lighter  than 
vanity  ?  WTio,  then,  would  not  relinquish  a  cent  to  obtain  a  king- 
dom !  And  here  let  it  be  noted,  that  it  is  not  the  renunciation  of  an 
opinion  or  practice  as  sinful  that  is  proposed  or  intended,  but 
merely  a  cessation  from  the  publishing  or  practicing  it,  so  as  to 
give  offense ;  a  thing  men  are  in  the  habit  of  doing  every  day  for 
their  private  comfort  or  secular  emolument,  where  the  advantage  is 
of  infinitely  less  importance.  Neither  is  there  here  any  clashing  of 
duties,  as  if  to  forbear  was  a  sin  and  also  to  practice  was  sin ;  the 
thing  to  be  forborne  being  a  matter  of  private  opinion,  which, 


Declaration  and  Address  177 


though  not  expressly  forbidden,  yet  are  we  by  no  means  expressly 
commanded  to  practice ;  whereas  we  are  expressly  commanded  to 
endeavour  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 
And  what  says  the  apostle  to  the  point  in  hand  ?  "  Hast  thou  faith," 
says  he;  "have  it  to  thyself  before  God.  Happy  is  the  man  that 
condemneth  not  himself  in  the  thing  which  he  allovveth." 

It  may  be  further  added,  that  a  still  higher  and  more  perfect  de- 
gree of  uniformity  is  intended,  though  neither  in  the  first  nor  second 
instance,  which  are  but  so  many  steps  towards  it ;  namely  :  the  utter 
abolition  of  those  minor  differences,  which  have  been  greatly  in- 
creased, as  well  as  continued,  by  our  unhappy  manner  of  treating 
them,  in  making  them  the  subject  of  perpetual  strife  and  conten- 
tion. Many  of  the  opinions  which  are  now  dividing  the  Church, 
had  they  been  let  alone,  would  have  been  long  since  dead  and 
gone ;  but  the  constant  insisting  upon  them,  as  articles  of  faith  and 
terms  of  salvation,  have  so  beaten  them  into  the  minds  of  men,  that, 
in  many  instances,  they  would  as  soon  deny  the  Bible  itself  as 
give  up  one  of  those  opinions.  Having  thus  embraced  contentions 
and  preferred  divisions  to  that  constitutional  unity,  peace,  and  charity 
so  essential  to  Christianity,  it  would  appear  that  the  Lord,  in  right- 
eous judgment,  has  abandoned  His  professing  people  to  the  awful 
scourge  of  those  evils  ;  as,  in  an  instance  somewhat  similar.  He  for- 
merly did  His  highly  favoured  Israel.  "  My  people,"  says  He,  "would 
not  hearken  to  My  voice.  So  I  gave  them  up  to  their  own  hearts' 
lusts,  and  they  walked  in  their  own  counsels."  "  Israel  hath  made 
many  altars  to  sin  :  therefore  altars  shall  be  unto  him  to  sin."  Thus, 
then,  are  we  to  be  consistently  understood,  as  fully  and  fairly  intend- 
ing, on  our  part,  what  we  have  declared  and  proposed  to  our  breth- 
ren, as,  to  our  apprehension,  incumbent  upon  them  and  us,  for  put- 
ting an  end  forever  to  our  sad  and  lamentable  schisms.  Should 
any  object  and  say  that,  after  all,  the  fullest  compliance  with  every- 
thmg  proposed  and  intended  would  not  restore  the  Church  to  the 
desired  unity,  as  there  might  remain  differences  of  opinion  and 
practice;  let  such  but  duly  consider  what  properly  belongs  to  the 
unity  of  the  Church,  and  we  are  persuaded  this  objection  will  vanish. 
Does  not  the  visible  Scriptural  unity  of  the  Christian  Church  consist 
in  the  unity  of  her  public  profession  and  practice,  and,  under  this, 
in  the  manifest  charity  of  her  members,  one  towards  another,  and 
not  in  the  unity  of  private  opinion  and  practice  of  every  individ- 


1 78  Declaration  and  Address 


ual  ?  Was  not  this  evidently  the  case  in  the  apostles'  days,  as  has 
been  already  observed?  If  so,  the  objection  falls  to  the  giound. 
And  here  let  it  be  noted  (if  the  hint  be  at  all  necessary),  that  we 
are  speaking  of  the  unity  of  the  Church  considered  as  a  great,  visible, 
professing  body,  consisting  of  many  co-ordinate  associations ;  each 
of  these,  in  its  aggregate  or  associate  capacity,  walking  by  the  same 
rule,  professing  and  practicing  the  same  things.  That  this  visible 
Scriptural  unity  be  preserved  without  corruption,  or  breach  of  char- 
ity, throughout  the  whole,  and  in  every  particular  worshipping 
society  or  Church,  is  the  grand  desideratum — the  thing  strictly 
enjoined  and  greatly  to  be  desired.  An  agreement  in  the  expressly 
revealed  will  of  God  is  the  adequate  and  firm  foundation  of  this 
unity ;  ardent  prayer,  accompanied  with  prudent,  peaceable,  and 
persevering  exertion,  in  the  use  of  all  Scnptural  means  for  accom- 
plishing it,  are  the  things  humbly  suggested  and  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  our  brethren.  If  we  have  mistaken  the  way,  their  char- 
ity will  put  us  right ;  but  if  otherwise,  their  fidelity  to  Christ  and 
His  cause  will  excite  them  to  come  forth  speedily,  to  assist  with  us 
in  this  blessed  work. 

After  all,  should  any  impeach  us  with  the  vague  charge  of  Lati- 
tudinarianism  (let  none  be  startled  at  this  gigantic  term),  it  will 
prove  as  feeble  an  opponent  to  the  glorious  cause  in  which  we,  how- 
ever weak  and  unworthy,  are  professedly  engaged,  as  the  Zamzum- 
mins  did  of  old,  to  prevent  the  children  of  Lot  from  taking  posses- 
sion of  their  inheritance.  If  we  take  no  greater  latitude  than  the 
divine  law  allows,  either  in  judging  of  persons  or  doctrines — either 
in  profession  or  practice  (and  this  is  the  very  thing  we  humbly  pro- 
pose and  sincerely  intend),  may  we  not  reasonably  hope  that  such  a 
latitude  will  appear,  to  every  upright  Christian,  perfectly  innocent 
and  unexceptionable  ?  If  this  be  Latitudinarianism,  it  must  be  a 
good  thing,  and,  therefore,  the  more  we  have  of  it  the  better ;  and 
may  be  it  is,  for  we  are  told,  "  the  commandment  is  exceeding 
broad ;  "  and  we  intend  to  go  just  as  far  as  it  will  suffer  us,  but  not 
one  hair-breadth  further;  so,  at  least,  says  our  profession.  And 
surely  it  will  be  time  enough  to  condemn  our  practice,  when  it  ap- 
pears manifestly  inconsistent  with  the  profession  we  have  thus  pre- 
cisely and  explicitly  made.  We  here  refer  to  the  whole  of  the 
foregoing  premises.  But  were  this  word  as  bad  as  it  is  long,  were 
it  stuffed  with  evil  from  beginning  to  end,  may  be  it  better  belongs 


Declaration  and  Address  179 


to  those  that  brandish  it  so  unmercifully  at  their  neighbours,  espe- 
cially if  they  take  a  greater  latitude  than  their  neighbours  do,  or 
than  the  divine  law  allows.  Let  the  case,  then,  be  fairly  sub- 
mitted to  all  that  know  their  Bible,  to  all  that  take  upon  them  to 
see  with  their  own  eyes,  to  judge  for  themselves.  And  here  let 
it  be  observed  once  for  all,  that  it  is  only  to  such  we  direct  our  at- 
tention in  the  foregoing  pages.  As  for  those  that  either  cannot  or 
will  not  see  and  judge  for  themselves,  they  must  be  content  to  fol- 
low their  leaders  till  they  come  to  their  eyesight,  or  determine  to 
make  use  of  the  faculties  and  means  of  information  which  God 
has  given  them ;  with  such,  in  the  meantime,  it  would  be  useless 
to  reason,  seeing  that  they  either  confessedly  cannot  see,  or  have 
completely  resigned  themselves  to  the  conduct  of  their  leaders,  and 
are  therefore  determined  to  hearken  to  none  but  them.  If  there 
be  none  such,  however,  we  are  happily  deceived ;  but,  if  so,  we 
are  not  the  only  persons  that  are  thus  deceived ;  for  this  is  the  com- 
mon fault  objected  by  almost  all  the  parties  to  each  other,  namely, 
that  they  either  cannot  or  will  not  see ;  and  it  would  be  hard  to 
think  they  were  all  mistaken ;  the  fewer  there  be,  however,  of  this 
description,  the  better.  To  all  those,  then,  that  are  disposed  to  see 
and  think  for  themselves,  to  form  their  judgment  by  the  divine 
word  itself,  and  not  by  any  human  explication  of  it,  humbly  rely- 
ing upon  and  looking  for  the  promised  assistance  of  divine  teach- 
ing, and  not  barely  trusting  to  their  own  understanding — to  all 
such  do  we  gladly  commit  our  cause,  being  persuaded  that,  at  least, 
they  will  give  it  a  very  serious  and  impartial  consideration,  as  being 
truly  desirous  to  know  the  truth.  To  you,  then,  we  appeal,  in  the 
present  instance,  as  we  have  also  done  from  the  beginning.  Say, 
we  beseech  you,  to  whom  does  the  charge  of  Latitudinarianism, 
when  taken  in  a  bad  sense  (for  we  have  supposed  it  may  be  taken 
in  a  good  sense),  most  truly  and  properly  belong,  whether  to  those 
that  will  neither  add  nor  diminish  anything  as  to  matter  of  faith 
and  duty,  either  to  or  from  what  is  expressly  revealed  and  en- 
joined in  the  holy  Scriptures,  or  to  those  who  pretend  to  go  further 
than  this,  or  to  set  aside  some  of  its  express  declarations  and  in- 
junctions, to  make  way  for  their  own  opinions,  inferences,  and  con- 
clusions ?  Whether  to  those  who  profess  their  willingness  to  hold 
communion  with  their  acknowledged  Christian  brethren,  when  they 
neither  manifestly  oppose  nor  contradict  anything  expressly  revealed 


l8o  Declaration  and  Address 


and  enjoined  in  the  sacred  standard,  or  to  those  who  reject  such, 
when  professing  to  believe  and  practice  whatever  is  expressly 
revealed  and  enjoined  therein,  without,  at  the  same  time,  being 
alleged,  much  less  found  guilty,  of  anything  to  the  contrary,  but 
instead  of  this  asserting  and  declaring  their  hearty  assent  and  con- 
sent to  everything  for  which  there  can  be  expressly  produced  a 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  either  in  express  terms  or  by  approved  prec- 
edent ?  To  which  of  these,  think  you,  does  the  odious  charge  of  Lati- 
tudinarianism  belong  ?  Which  of  them  takes  the  greatest  latitude  ? 
Whether  those  that  expressly  judge  and  condemn  where  they  have 
no  express  warrant  for  so  doing,  or  those  that  absolutely  refuse  so 
to  do  ?  And  we  can  assure  our  brethren,  that  such  things  are  and 
have  been  done,  to  our  own  certain  knowledge,  and  even  where 
we  least  expected  it ;  and  that  it  is  to  this  discovery,  as  much  as  to 
many  other  things,  that  we  stand  indebted  for  that  thorough  convic- 
tion of  the  evil  state  of  things  in  the  Churches,  which  has  given  rise 
to  our  association.  As  for  our  part,  we  dare  no  longer  give  our  as- 
sent to  such  proceedings ;  we  dare  no  longer  concur  in  expressly 
asserting  or  declaring  anything  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  that  He 
has  not  expressly  declared  in  His  holy  word.  And  until  such  time 
as  Christians  come  to  see  the  evil  of  doing  otherwise,  we  see  no  ra- 
tional ground  to  hope  that  there  can  be  either  unity,  peace,  purity, 
or  prosperity,  in  the  Church  of  God.  Convinced  of  the  truth  of 
this,  we  would  humbly  desire  to  be  instrumental  in  pointing  out  to 
our  fellow-Christians  the  evils  of  such  conduct.  And  if  we  might 
venture  to  give  our  opinion  of  such  proceedings,  we  would  not  hesi- 
tate to  say,  that  they  appear  to  include  three  great  evils — evils  truly 
great  in  themselves,  and  at  the  same  time  productive  of  most  evil 
consequences. 

First,  to  determine  expressly,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  when  the 
Lord  has  not  expressly  determined,  appears  to  us  a  very  great  evil. 
(See  Deut.  xviii.  20.)  "The  prophet  that  shall  presume  to  speak  a 
word  in  My  name,  which  I  have  not  commanded  him  to  speak,  even 
that  prophet  shall  die."  The  Apostle  Paul,  no  doubt,  well  aware 
of  this,  cautiously  distinguishes  between  his  own  judgment  and  the  ex- 
press injunctions  of  the  Lord.  (See  I  Cor.  vii.  25  and  40,)  Though, 
at  the  same  time,  it  appears  that  he  was  as  well  convinced  of  the 
truth  and  propriety  of  his  declarations,  and  of  the  concurrence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  with  his  judgment,  as  any  of  our  modern  determiners  may 


Declaration  and  Address  181 


be  ;  for  "  I  think,"  said  he,  "  that  I  have  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  "  and  we 
doubt  much,  if  the  best  of  them  could  honestly  say  more  than  this  ; 
yet  we  see  that,  with  all  this,  he  would  not  bind  the  Church  with  his 
conclusions ;  and,  for  this  very  reason,  as  he  expressly  tells  us,  be- 
cause, as  to  the  matter  on  hand,  he  had  no  commandment  of  the 
Lord.  He  spoke  by  permission,  and  not  by  commandment,  as  one 
that  had  obtained  mercy  to  be  faithful,  and  therefore  would  not  forge 
his  Master's  name  by  affixing  it  to  his  own  conclusions,  saying,  "  The 
Lord  saith,"  when  the  Lord  had  not  spoken. 

A  second  evil  is,  not  only  judging  our  brother  to  be  absolutely 
wrong,  because  he  differs  from  our  opinions,  but  more  especially, 
our  judging  him  to  be  a  transgressor  of  the  law  in  so  doing,  and, 
of  course,  treating  him  as  such  by  censuring  or  otherwise  exposing 
him  to  contempt,  or,  at  least,  preferring  ourselves  before  him  in  our 
own  judgment,  saying,  as  it  were,  Stand  by,  I  am  holier  than  thou. 

A  third  and  still  more  dreadful  evil  is,  when  we  not  only,  in  this 
kind  of  way,  judge  and  set  at  nought  our  brother,  but,  moreover, 
proceed  as  a  Church,  acting  and  judging  in  the  name  of  Christ,  not 
only  to  'determine  that  our  brother  is  wrong  because  he  differs  from 
our  determinations,  but  also,  in  connection  with  this,  proceed  so  far  as 
to  determine  the  merits  of  the  cause  by  rejecting  him,  or  casting  him 
out  of  the  Church,  as  unworthy  of  a  place  in  her  communion,  and 
thus,  as  far  as  in  our  power,  cutting  him  off  from  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  In  proceeding  thus,  we  not  only  declare,  that,  in  our  judg- 
ment, our  brother  is  in  an  error,  which  we  may  sometimes  do  in  a 
perfect  consistence  with  charity,  but  we  also  take  upon  us  to  judge, 
as  acting  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  Christ,  that  his  error 
cuts  him  off  from  salvation ;  that  continuing  such,  he  has  no  inherit- 
ance in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God.  If  not,  what  means  our 
refusing  him — our  casting  him  out  of  the  Church,  which  is  the  king- 
dom of  God  in  this  world  ?  For  certainly,  if  a  person  have  no  right, 
according  to  the  divine  word,  to  a  place  in  the  Church  of  God  upon 
earth  (which  we  say  he  has  not,  by  thus  rejecting  Him),  he  can  have 
none  to  a  place  in  the  Church  in  heaven — unless  we  should  suppose 
that  those  whom  Christ  by  His  word  rejects  here.  He  will  nevertheless 
receive  hereafter.  And  surely  it  is  by  the  word  that  every  Church 
pretends  to  judge ;  and  it  is  by  this  rule,  in  the  case  before  us,  that 
the  person  in  the  judgment  of  the  Church  stands  rejected.  Now  is 
not  this,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  determining  the  merits  of  the 


i82  Declaration  and  Address 


cause  ?  Do  we  not  conclude  that  the  person's  error  cuts  him  off 
from  all  ordinary  possibility  of  salvation,  by  thus  cutting  him  o£f  from 
a  place  in  the  Church,  out  of  which  there  is  no  ordinary  possibility  of 
salvation  ?  Does  he  not  henceforth  become  to  us  as  a  heathen  man 
and  a  publican  ?  Is  he  not  reckoned  among  the  number  of  those 
that  are  without,  whom  God  judgeth  ?  If  not,  what  means  such  a 
solemn  determination  ?  Is  it  anything  or  is  it  nothing,  for  a  per- 
son to  stand  rejected  by  the  Church  of  God  ?  If  such  rejection  con- 
fessedly leave  the  man  still  in  the  same  safe  and  hopeful  state  as  to 
his  spiritual  interests,  then,  indeed,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  mere  in- 
difference ;  for  as  to  his  civil  and  natural  privileges,  it  interferes  not 
with  them.  But  the  Scripture  gives  us  a  very  different  view  of  the 
matter ;  for  there  we  see  that  those  that  stand  justly  rejected  by  the 
Church  on  earth,  have  no  room  to  hope  for  a  place  in  the  Church  of 
heaven.  "  What  ye  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven  "  is  the 
awful  sanction  of  the  Church's  judgment,  in  justly  rejecting  any  per- 
son. Take  away  this,  and  it  has  no  sanction  at  all.  But  the  Church 
rejecting,  always  pretends  to  have  acted  justly  in  so  doing,  and,  if  so, 
whereabouts  does  it  confessedly  leave  the  person  rejected,  if  not  in  a 
state  of  damnation  ?  that  is  to  say,  if  it  acknowledge  itself  to  be  a 
Church  of  Christ,  and  to  have  acted  justly.  If,  after  all,  any  particular 
Church  acting  thus  should  refuse  the  foregoing  conclusion,  by  saying  : 
We  meant  no  such  thing  concerning  the  person  rejected  ;  we  only 
judged  him  Junworthy  of  a  place  among  us,  and  therefore  put  him 
away,  but  there  are  other  Churches  that  may  receive  him ;  we 
would  be  almost  tempted  to  ask  such  a  Church,  if  those  other  Churches 
be  Churches  of  Christ,  and  if  so,  pray  what  does  it  account  itself?  Is 
it  anything  more  or  better  than  a  Church  of  Christ  ?  And  whether, 
if  those  other  Churches  do  their  duty  as  faithful  Churches,  any  of 
them  would  receive  the  person  it  had  rejected  ?  If  it  be  answered 
that,  in  acting  faithfully,  none  of  those  other  Churches  either  could  or 
would  receive  him,  then,  confessedly,  in  the  judgment  of  this  par- 
ticular Church,  the  person  ought  to  be  universally  rejected ;  but  if 
otherwise,  it  condemns  itself  of  having  acted  unfaithfully,  nay 
cruelly,  towards  a  Christian  brother,  a  child  of  God,  in  thus  rejecting 
him  from  the  heritage  of  the  Lord,  in  thus  cutting  him  off  from  his 
Father's  house,  as  the  unnatural  brethren  did  the  beloved  Joseph. 
But  even  suppose  some  one  or  other  of  those  unfaithful  Churches 
should  receive  the  outcast,  would  their  unfaithfulness  in  so  doing 


Declaration  and  Address  183 


nullify,  in  the  judgment  of  this  more  faithful  Church,  its  just  and  faith- 
ful decision  in  rejecting  him  ?  If  not,  then,  confessedly,  in  its  judg- 
ment, the  person  still  remains  under  the  influence  of  its  righteous 
sentence,  debarred  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  that  is  to  say,  if  it 
believe  the  Scriptures,  that  what  it  has  righteously  done  upon  earth  is 
ratified  in  heaven.  We  see  no  way  that  a  Church  acting  thus  can 
possibly  get  rid  of  this  awful  conclusion,  except  it  acknowledges  that 
the  person  it  has  rejected  from  its  communion  still  has  a  right  to  the 
communion  of  the  Church ;  but  if  it  acknowledge  this,  whereabout 
does  it  leave  itself,  in  thus  shutting  out  a  fellow-Christian,  an  acknowl- 
edged brother,  a  child  of  God  ?  Do  we  find  any  parallel  for  such 
conduct  in  the  inspired  records,  except  in  the  case  of  Diotrephes,  of 
whom  the  apostle  says,  "  Who  loveth  to  have  the  pre-eminence 
among  them,  receiveth  us  not,  prating  against  us  with  malicious 
words  :  and  not  content  therewith,  neither  doth  he  himself  receive 
the  brethren,  and  forbiddeth  them  that  would,  and  casteth  them  out 
of  the  Church." 

But  further,  suppose  another  Church  should  receive  this  castaway, 
this  person  which  this  faithful  Church  supposed  itself  to  have  right- 
eously rejected,  would  not  the  Church  so  doing  incur  the  displeasure, 
nay  even  the  censure  of  the  Church  that  had  rejected  him  ?  and,  we 
should  think,  justly  too  if  he  deserved  to  be  rejected.  And  would 
not  this  naturally  produce  a  schism  between  the  Churches  ?  Or,  if  it 
be  supposed  that  a  schism  did  already  exist,  would  not  this  manifestly 
tend  to  perpetuate  and  increase  it  ?  If  one  Church,  receiving  those 
whom  another  puts  away,  will  not  be  productive  of  schism,  we  must 
confess  we  cannot  tell  what  would.  That  Church,  therefore,  must 
surely  act  very  schismatically,  very  unlike  a  Church  of  Christ,  which 
necessarily  presupposes  or  produces  schism  in  order  to  shield  an 
oppressed  fellow-Christian  from  the  dreadful  consequences  of  its  un- 
righteous proceedings.  And  is  not  this  confessedly  the  case  with 
every  Church  which  rejects  a  person  from  its  communion  while  it 
acknowledges  him  to  be  a  fellow-Christian ;  and,  in  order  to  excuse 
this  piece  of  cruelty,  says  he  may  find  refuge  some  place  else,  some 
other  Church  may  receive  him?  For,  as  we  have  already  observed, 
if  no  schism  did  already  exist,  one  Church  receiving  those  whom  an- 
other has  rejected  must  certainly  make  one.  The  same  evils  also 
will  as  justly  attach  to  the  conduct  of  an  individual  who  refuses  or 
breaks  communion  with  a  Church  because  it  will  not  receive  or 


184  Declaration  and  Address 


make  room  for  his  private  opinions  or  self-devised  practicts  in  its 
public  profession  and  managements;  for  does  he  not,  in  this  case, 
actually  take  upon  him  to  judge  the  Church  which  he  thus  rejects  as 
unworthy  of  the  communion  of  Christians  ?  And  is  not  this,  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes,  declaring  it,  in  his  judgment,  excommunicate,  or 
at  least  worthy  of  excommunication  ? 

Thus  have  we  briefly  endeavoured  to  show  our  brethren  what  evi- 
dently appears  to  us  to  be  the  heinous  nature  and  dreadful  conse- 
quences of  that  truly  latitudinarian  principle  and  practice  which  is 
the  bitter  root  of  almost  all  our  divisions,  namely,  the  imposing  of 
our  private  opinions  upon  each  other  as  articles  of  faith  or  duty,  in- 
troducing them  into  the  public  profession  and  practice  of  the  Church, 
and  acting  upon  them  as  if  they  were  the  express  law  of  Christ,  by 
judging  and  rejecting  our  brethren  that  differ  from  us  in  those  things, 
or  at  least  by  so  retaining  them  in  our  public  profession  and  prac- 
tice that  our  brethren  cannot  join  with  us,  or  we  with  them,  vritb- 
out  becoming  actually  partakers  in  those  things  which  they  or  we 
cannot  in  conscience  approve,  and  which  the  word  of  God  nowhere 
expressly  enjoins  upon  us.  To  cease  from  all  such  things,  by  simply 
returning  to  the  original  standard  of  Christianity,  the  profession  and 
practice  of  the  primitive  Church,  as  expressly  exhibited  upon  the 
sacred  page  of  New  Testament  Scripture,  is  the  only  possible  way 
that  we  can  perceive  to  get  rid  of  those  evils.  And  we  humbly 
think  that  a  uniform  agreement  in  that  for  the  preservation  of  charity 
would  be  infinitely  preferable  to  our  contentions  and  divisions  ;  nay, 
that  such  a  uniformity  is  the  very  thing  that  the  Lord  requires  if  the 
New  Testament  be  a  perfect  model,  a  sufficient  formula  for  the 
worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  the  Christian  Church.  Let  us 
do  as  we  are  there  expressly  told  they  did,  say  as  they  said  ;  that  is, 
profess  and  practice  as  therein  expressly  enjoined  by  precept  and 
precedent,  in  every  possible  instance,  after  their  approved  example  ; 
and  in  so  doing  we  shall  realize  and  exhibit  all  that  unity  and  uni- 
formity that  the  primitive  Church  possessed,  or  that  the  law  of  Christ 
requires.  But  if,  after  all,  our  brethren  can  point  out  a  better  way  to 
regain  and  preserve  that  Christian  unity  and  charity  expressly  en- 
joined upon  the  Church  of  God,  we  shall  thank  them  for  the  discovery, 
and  cheerfully  embrace  it. 

Should  it  still  be  urged  that  this  would  open  a  wide  door  to  Lati- 
tudinarianism,  seeing  all  that  profess  Christianity  profess  to  receive 


Declaration  and  Address  185 


the  holy  Scriptures,  and  yet  differ  so  widely  in  their  religious  senti- 
ments, we  say,  let  them  profess  what  they  will,  their  difference  in 
religious  profession  and  practice  originates  in  their  departure  from 
what  is  expressly  revealed  and  enjoined,  and  not  in  their  strict  and 
faithful  conformity  to  it,  which  is  the  thing  we  humbly  advise  for 
putting  an  end  to  those  differences.  But  you  may  say.  Do  they  not 
already  all  agree  in  the  letter,  though  differing  so  far  in  sentiment  ? 
However  this  may  be,  have  they  all  agreed  to  make  the  letter  their 
rule,  or,  rather,  to  make  it  the  subject-matter  of  their  profession  and 
practice  ?  Surely  not,  or  else  they  would  all  profess  and  practice  the 
same  thing.  Is  it  not  as  evident  as  the  shining  light  that  the  Scrip- 
tures exhibit  but  one  and  the  self-same  subject-matter  of  profession 
and  practice,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  and  that,  therefore,  to 
say  as  it  declares,  and  to  do  as  it  prescribes  in  all  its  holy  precepts, 
its  approved  and  imitable  examples,  would  unite  the  Christian  Church 
in  a  holy  sameness  of  profession  and  practice  throughout  the  whole 
world  ?  By  the  Christian  Church  throughout  the  world,  we  mean  the 
aggregate  of  such  professors  as  we  have  described  in  Proposi- 
tions I  and  8,  even  all  that  mutually  acknowledge  each  other  as 
Christians,  upon  the  manifest  evidence  of  their  faith,  holiness,  and 
charity.  It  is  such  only  we  intend  when  we  urge  the  necessity  of 
Christian  unity.  Had  only  such  been  all  along  recognized  as  the 
genuine  subjects  of  our  holy  religion,  there  would  not,  in  all  proba- 
bility, have  been  so  much  apparent  need  for  human  formulae  to  pre- 
serve an  external  formality  of  professional  unity  and  soundness  in  the 
faith,  but  artificial  and  superficial  characters  need  artificial  means 
to  train  and  unite  them.  A  manifest  attachment  to  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  faith,  holiness,  and  charity,  was  the  original  criterion  of 
Christian  character,  the  distinguishing  badge  of  our  holy  profession, 
the  foundation  and  cement  of  Christian  unity.  But  now,  alas !  and 
long  since,  an  external  name,  a  mere  educational  formality  of  same- 
ness in  the  profession  of  a  certain  standard  or  formula  of  human 
fabric,  with  a  very  moderate  degree  of  what  is  called  morality, 
forms  the  bond  and  foundation,  the  root  and  reason  of  ecclesiastical 
unity.  Take  away  from  such  the  technicalness  of  their  profession,  the 
shibboleth  of  party,  and  what  have  they  more  ?  What  have  they  left 
to  distinguish  and  hold  them  together  ?  As  for  the  Bible,  they  are 
but  little  beholden  to  it,  they  have  learned  little  from  it,  they  know 
little  about  it,  and  therefore  depend  as  little  upon  it.    Nay,  they 


i86  Declaration  and  Address 


will  even  tell  you  it  would  be  of  no  use  to  them  without  their 
formula ;  they  could  not  know  a  Papist  from  a  Protestant  by  it ;  that 
merely  by  it  they  could  neither  keep  themselves  nor  the  Church  right 
for  a  single  week.  You  might  preach  to  them  what  you  please,  they 
could  not  distinguish  truth  from  error.  Poor  people,  it  is  no  wonder 
they  are  so  fond  of  their  formula  !  Therefore,  they  that  exercise  au- 
thority upon  them  and  tell  them  what  they  are  to  believe  and  what 
they  are  to  do,  are  called^benefactors.  These  are  the  reverend  and 
right  reverend  authors,  upon  whom  they  can  and  do  place  a  more 
entire  and  implicit  confidence  than  upon  the  holy  apostles  and 
prophets  ;  those  plain,  honest,  unassuming  men,  who  would  never 
venture  to  say  or  do  anything  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  without  an 
express  revelation  from  heaven,  and  therefore  were  never  distin- 
guished by  the  venerable  titles  of  Rabbi  or  Reverend,  but  just  simple 
Paul,  John,  Thomas,  etc.  TTiese  were  but  servants.  They  did  not 
assume  to  legislate,  and,  therefore,  neither  assumed  nor  received  any 
honorary  titles  among  men,  but  merely  such  as  were  descriptive  of 
their  office.  And  how,  we  beseech  you,  shall  this  gross  and  preva- 
lent corruption  be  purged  out  of  the  visible  professing  Church  but  by 
a  radical  reform,  but  by  returning  to  the  original  simplicity,  the 
primitive  purity  of  the  Christian  institution,  and,  of  course,  taking  up 
things  just  as  we  find  them  upon  the  sacred  page.  And  who  is 
there]  that  knows  anything  of  the  present  state  of  the  Church  who 
does  not  perceive  that  it  is  greatly  overrun  with  the  aforesaid  evils  ? 
Or  who  that  reads  his  Bible,  and  receives  the  impressions  it  must 
necessarily  produce  upon  the  receptive  mind  by  the  statements  it 
exhibits,  does  not  perceive  that  such  a  state  of  things  is  as  distinct 
from  genuine  Christianity  as  oil  is  from  water  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  is  it  not  equally  as  evident  that  not  one  of  all 
the  erroneous  tenets  and  corrupt  practices  which  have  so  defamed 
and  corrupted  the  public  profession  and  practice  of  Christianity,  could 
ever  have  appeared  in  the  world  had  men  kept  close  by  the  express 
letter  of  the  divine  law,  had  they  thus  held  fast  that  form  of  sound 
words  contained  in  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  considered  it  their  duty 
so  to  do,  unless  they  blame  those  errors  and  corruptions  upon  the 
very  form  and  expression  of  the  Scriptures,  and  say  that,  taken  in 
their  letter  and  connection,  they  immediately,  and  at  first  sight,  as  it 
were,  exhibit  the  picture  they  have  drawn.  Should  any  be  so  bold 
as  to  assert  this,  let  them  produce  their  performance,  the  original  is 


Declaration  and  Address  187 


at  hand ;  and  let  them  show  us  line  for  line,  expression  for  expres- 
sion, precept  and  precedent  for  practice,  without  the  torture  of 
criticism,  inference,  or  conjecture,  and  then  we  shall  honestly  blame 
the  whole  upon  the  Bible,  and  thank  those  that  will  give  us  an  ex- 
purged  edition  of  it,  call  it  constitution,  or  formula,  or  what  you 
please,  that  will  not  be  liable  to  lead  the  simple,  unlettered  world 
into  those  gross  mistakes,  those  contentions,  schisms,  excommunica- 
tions, and  persecutions  which  have  proved  so  detrimental  and  scan- 
dalous to  our  holy  religion. 

Should  it  be  further  objected,  that  even  this  strict  literal  uniformity 
would  neither  infer  nor  secure  unity  of  sentiment ;  it  is  granted 
that,  in  a  certain  degree,  it  would  not ;  nor,  indeed,  is  there  any- 
thing either  in  Scripture  or  the  nature  of  things  that  should  induce 
us  to  expect  an  entire  unity  of  sentiment  in  the  present  imperfect 
state.  The  Church  may,  and  we  believe  will,  come  to  such  a  Scrip- 
tural unity  of  faith  and  practice,  that  there  will  be  no  schism  in  the 
body,  no  self-preferring  sect  of  professed  and  acknowledged  Christians 
rejecting  and  excluding  their  brethren.  This  cannot  be,  however, 
till  the  offensive  and  excluding  causes  be  removed ;  and  every  one 
knows  what  these  are.  But  that  all  the  members  should  have  the 
same  identical  views  of  all  divinely  revealed  truths,  or  that  there 
should  be  no  difference  of  opinion  among  them,  appears  to  us  morally 
impossible,  all  things  considered.  Nor  can  we  conceive  what  de- 
sirable purpose  such  a  unity  of  sentiment  would  serve,  except  to 
render  useless  some  of  those  gracious,  self  denying,  and  compassionate 
precepts  of  mutual  sympathy  and  forbearance  which  the  word  of  God 
enjoins  upon  His  people.  Such,  then,  is  the  imperfection  of  our  pres- 
ent state.  Would  to  God  it  might  prove,  as  it  ought,  a  just  and  hum- 
bling counterbalance  to  our  pride  !  Then,  indeed,  we  would  judge 
one  another  no  more  about  such  matters.  We  would  rather  be  con- 
scientiously cautious  to  give  no  offense ;  to  put  no  stumbling-block 
or  occasion  to  fall  in  our  brother's  way.  We  would  then  no  longer 
exalt  our  own  opinions  and  inferences  to  an  equality  with  express 
revelation,  by  condemning  and  rejecting  our  brother  for  differing 
with  us  in  those  things. 

But  although  it  be  granted  that  the  uniformity  we  plead  for 
would  not  secure  unity  of  sentiment,  yet  we  should  suppose  that 
it  would  be  as  efficacious  for  that  purpose  as  any  human  expedient 
or  substitute  whatsoever.    And  here  we  would  ask :  Have  all  or  any 


i88  Declaration  and  Address 


of  those  human  compilations  been  able  to  prevent  divisions,  to  heal 
breaches,  or  to  produce  and  maintain  unity  of  sentiment  even 
among  those  who  have  most  firmly  and  solemnly  embraced  them  ? 
We  appeal  for  this  to  the  history  of  all  the  Churches,  and  to  the 
present  divided  state  of  the  Church  at  large.  What  good,  then,  have 
those  divisive  expedients  accomplished,  either  to  the  parties  that 
have  adopted  them,  or  to  the  Church  universal,  which  might  not 
have  been  as  well  secured  by  holding  fast  in  profession  and  prac- 
tice that  form  of  sound  words  contained  in  the  divine  standard, 
without,  at  the  same  time,  being  liable  to  any  of  those  dangerous 
and  destructive  consequences  which  have  necessarily  ensued  upon 
the  present  mode  ?  Or,  will  any  venture  to  say  that  the  Scriptures, 
thus  kept  in  their  proper  place,  would  not  have  been  amply  suffi- 
cient, under  the  promised  influence  of  the  divine  Spirit,  to  have 
produced  all  that  unity  of  sentiment  which  is  necessary  to  a  life  of 
faith  and  holiness ;  and  also  to  have  preserved  the  faith  and  worship 
of  the  Church  as  pure  from  mixture  and  error  as  the  Lord  intended, 
or  as  the  present  imperfect  state  of  His  people  can  possibly  admit  ? 
We  should  tremble  to  think  that  any  Christian  should  say  that  they 
would  not.  And  if  to  use  them  thus  would  be  sufficient  for  those 
purposes,  why  resort  to  other  expedients ;  to  expedients  which, 
from  the  beginning  to  this  day,  have  proved  utterly  insufficient;  nay, 
to  expedients  which  have  always  produced  the  very  contrary  effects, 
as  experience  testifies.  Let  none  here  imagine  that  we  set  any 
certain  limits  to  the  divine  intention,  or  to  the  greatness  of  His 
power  when  we  thus  speak,  as  if  a  certain  degree  of  purity  from  mix- 
ture and  error  were  not  designed  for  the  Church  in  this  world,  or  at- 
tainable by  His  people  upon  earth  except  in  so  far  as  respects  the 
attainment  of  an  angelic  or  unerring  perfection,  much  less  that  we 
mean  to  suggest  that  a  very  moderate  degree  of  unity  and  purity 
should  content  us.  We  only  take  it  for  granted  that  such  a  state  of 
perfection  is  neither  intended  nor  attainable  in  this  world,  as  will 
free  the  Church  from  all  those  weaknesses,  mistakes,  and  mismanage- 
ments from  which  she  will  be  completely  exempted  in  heaven,  how- 
ever sound  and  upright  she  may  now  be  in  her  profession,  intention, 
and  practice.  Neither  let  any  imagine  that  we  here  or  elsewhere 
suppose  or  intend  to  assert  that  human  standards  are  intentionally 
set  up  in  competition  with  the  Bible,  much  less  in  opposition  to  it. 
We  fairly  understand  and  consider  them  as  human  expedients,  or  as 


Declaration  and  Address  189 


certain  doctrinal  declarations  of  the  sense  in  which  the  compilers 
understood  the  Scriptures,  designed  and  embraced  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  and  securing  that  desirable  unity  and  purity  which 
the  Bible  alone,  without  those  helps,  would  be  insufficient  to  main- 
tain and  secure.  If  this  be  not  the  sense  of  those  that  receive  and 
hold  them,  for  the  aforesaid  purpose,  we  should  be  glad  to  know  what 
it  is.  It  is,  however,  in  this  very  sense  that  we  take  them  up  when 
we  complain  of  them,  as  not  only  unsuccessful,  but  also  as  unhappy 
expedients,  producing  the  very  contrary  effects.  And  even  suppose 
it  were  doubtful  whether  or  not  those  helps  have  produced  divisions, 
one  thing,  at  least,  is  certain,  they  have  not  been  able  to  prevent 
them ;  and  now,  that  divisions  do  exist,  it  is  as  certain  that  they  have 
no  fitness  nor  tendency  to  heal  them,  but  the  very  contrary,  as  fact 
and  experience  clearly  demonstrate.  What  shall  we  do,  then,  to  heal 
our  divisions  ?  We  must  certainly  take  some  other  way  than  the 
present  practice,  if  they  ever  be  healed ;  for  it  expressly  says,  they 
must  and  shall  be  perpetuated  forever.  Let  all  the  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity say  Amen ;  but  let  all  Christians  continually  say :  Forbid  it, 
O  Lord.  May  the  good  Lord  subdue  the  corruptions  and  heal  the 
divisions  of  His  people.    Amen,  and  amen. 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  some  of  our  timid  brethren  may,  pos- 
sibly, still  object,  and  say  :  We  fear  that  without  the  intervention  of 
some  definite  creed  or  formula,  you  will  justly  incur  the  censure  of 
Latitudinarianism ;  for  how  otherwise  detect  and  exclude  Arians, 
Socinians,  etc.?  To  such  we  would  reply,  that  if  to  profess,  in- 
culcate, and  practice  neither  more  nor  less,  neither  anything  else 
nor  otherwise  than  the  divine  word  expressly  declares  respecting 
the  entire  subject  of  faith  and  duty,  and  simply  to  rest  in  that,  as 
the  expression  of  our  faith  and  rule  of  our  practice,  will  not 
amount  to  the  profession  and  practical  exhibition  of  Arianism,  So- 
cinianism,  etc.,  but  merely  to  one  and  the  self  same  thing,  what- 
ever it  may  be  called,  then  is  the  ground  that  we  have  taken,  the 
principle  that  we  advocate,  in  nowise  chargeable  with  Latitudinarian- 
ism. Should  it  be  still  further  objected  that  all  these  sects,  and  many 
more,  profess  to  receive  the  Bible,  to  believe  it  to  be  the  word  of  God, 
and,  therefore,  will  readily  profess  to  believe  and  practice  whatever  is 
revealed  and  enjoined  therein,  and  yet  each  will  understand  it  his 
own  way,  and  of  course  practice  accordingly ;  nevertheless,  accord- 
ing to  the  plan  proposed,  you  receive  them  all.    We  would  ask, 


190  Declaration  and  Address 


then,  do  all  these  profess  and  practice  neither  more  nor  less  than 
what  we  read  in  the  Bible — than  what  is  expressly  revealed  and  en- 
joined therein  ?  If  so,  they  all  profess  and  practice  the  same  thing, 
for  the  Bible  exhibits  but  one  and  the  self-same  thing  to  all.  Or,  is 
it  their  own  inferences  and  opinions  that  they,  in  reality,  profess  and 
practice  ?  If  so,  then  upon  the  ground  that  we  have  taken  they 
stand  rejected,  as  condemned  of  themselves,  for  thus  professing  one 
thing  when  in  fact  and  reality  they  manifestly  practice  another. 
But  perhaps  you  will  say,  that  although  a  uniformity  in  profession, 
and  it  may  be  in  practice  too,  might  thus  be  produced,  yet  still  it 
would  amount  to  no  more  than  a  mere  uniformity  in  words,  and  in 
the  external  formalities  of  practice,  while  the  persons  thus  profess- 
ing and  practicing  might  each  entertain  his  own  sentiments,  how 
different  soever  these  might  be.  Our  reply  is,  if  so,  they  could  hurt 
nobody  but  themselves.  Besides,  if  persons  thus  united  professed  and 
practiced  all  the  same  things,  pray  who  could  tell  that  they  enter- 
tained different  sentiments,  or  even  in  justice  suppose  it,  unless 
they  gave  some  evident  intimation  of  it  ?  which,  if  they  did,  would 
justly  expose  them  to  censure,  or  to  rejection,  if  they  repented  not ; 
seeing  the  offense,  in  this  case,  must  amount  to  nothing  less  than  an 
express  violation  of  the  expressly  revealed  will  of  God — to  a  manifest 
transgression  of  the  express  letter  of  the  law  ;  for  we  have  declared, 
that  [except  in  such  a  case,  no  man,  in  our  judgment,  has  a  right  to 
judge,  that  is,  to  condemn  or  reject  his  professing  brother.  Here, 
we  presume,  there  is  no  greater  latitude  assumed  or  allowed  on 
either  side  than  the  law  expressly  determines.  But  we  would 
humbly  ask,  if  a  professed  agreement  in  the  terms  of  any  standard 
be  not  liable  to  the  very  same  objection  ?  If,  for  instance,  Arians, 
Socinians,  Arminians,  Calvinists,  Antinomians,  etc.,  might  not  all 
subscribe  the  Westminster  Confession,  the  Athanasian  Creed,  or  the 
doctrinal  articles  of  the  Church  of  England.  If  this  be  denied,  we 
appeal  to  historical  facts ;  and,  in  the  meantime,  venture  to  assert, 
that  such  things  are  and  have  been  done.  Or,  will  any  say,  that  a 
person  might  not  with  equal  ease,  honesty,  and  consistency,  be  an 
Arian  or  a  Socinian  in  his  heart  while  subscribing  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  or  the  Athanasian  Creed,  as  while  making  his  un- 
qualified profession  to  believe  everything  that  the  Scriptures  declare 
concerning  Christ  ?  to  put  all  that  confidence  in  Him,  and  to  ascribe 
all  that  glory,  honour,  thanksgiving,  and  praise  to  Him,  professed  and 


Declaration  and  Address  191 


ascribed  to  Him  in  the  divine  word  ?  If  you  say  not,  it  follows,  of 
undeniable  consequence,  that  the  wisdom  of  men,  in  those  compila- 
tions, has  effected  what  the  divine  Wisdom  either  could  not,  would 
not,  or  did  not  do,  in  that  all-perfect  and  glorious  revelation  of  His 
will,  contained  in  the  holy  Scriptures.  Happy  emendation ! 
Blessed  expedient !  Happy,  indeed,  for  the  Church  that  Athanasius 
arose  in  the  fourth  century  to  perfect  what  the  holy  apo-.iles  and 
prophets  had  left  in  such  a  rude  and  unfinished  state.  But  if,  after 
all,  the  divine  Wisdom  did  not  think  proper  to  do  anything  more, 
or  anything  else  than  is  already  done  in  the  sacred  oracles,  to 
settle  and  determine  those  important  points,  who  can  say  that  He 
determined  such  a  thing  should  be  done  afterwards  ?  Or  has  He 
anywhere  given  us  any  intimation  of  such  an  intention  ? 

Let  it  here  be  carefully  observed  that  the  question  before  us  is 
about  human  standards  designed  to  be  subscribed,  or  otherwise  sol- 
emnly acknowledged,  for  the  preservation  of  ecclesiastical  unity  and 
purity,  and  therefore,  of  course,  by  no  means  applies  to  the  many 
excellent  performances,  for  the  Scriptural  elucidation  and  defense  of 
divinely  revealed  truths  and  other  instructive  purposes.  These,  we 
hope,  according  to  their  respective  merit,  we  as  highly  esteem,  and 
as  thankfully  receive,  as  our  brethren.  But  further,  with  respect  to 
unity  of  sentiment,  even  suppose  it  ever  so  desirable,  it  appears 
highly  questionable  whether  such  a  thing  can  at  all  be  secured,  by 
any  expedient  whatsoever,  especially  if  we  consider  that  it  nec- 
essarily presupposes  in  so  far  a  unity  or  sameness  of  understanding. 
Or,  will  any  say,  that  from  the  youth  of  seventeen  to  the  man  of 
fourscore — from  the  illiterate  peasant,  up  to  the  learned  prelate — all 
the  legitimate  members  of  the  Church  entertain  the  same  sentiments 
under  their  respective  formulae  ?  If  not,  it  is  still  but  a  mere  verbal 
agreement,  a  mere  show  of  unity.  They  say  an  amen  to  the  same 
forms  of  speech,  or  of  sound  words,  as  they  are  called,  without  hav- 
ing, at  the  same  time,  the  same  views  of  the  subject ;  or,  it  may  be, 
without  any  determinate  views  of  it  at  all.  And,  what  is  still  worse, 
this  profession  is  palmed  upon  the  world,  as  well  as  upon  the  too 
credulous  professors  themselves,  for  unity  of  sentiment,  for  sound- 
ness in  the  faith ;  when  in  a  thousand  instances,  they  have,  properly 
speaking,  no  faith  at  all ;  that  is  to  say,  if  faith  necessarily  presup- 
poses a  true  and  satisfactory  conviction  of  the  Scriptural  evidence  and 
certainty  of  the  truth  of  the  propositions  we  profess  to  believe.  A 


192  Declaration  and  Address 


cheap  and  easy  orthodoxy  this,  to  which  we  may  attain  by  commit- 
ting to  memory  a  catechism,  or  professing  our  approbation  of  a 
formula,  made  ready  to  our  hand,  which  we  may  or  may  not  have 
once  read  over  ;  or  even  if  we  have,  yet  may  not  have  been  able  to 
read  it  so  correctly  and  intelligently  as  to  clearly  understand  one 
single  paragraph  from  beginning  to  end,  much  less  to  compare  it 
with,  to  search  and  try  it  by  the  holy  Scriptures,  to  see  if  these 
things  be  so.  A  cheap  and  easy  orthodoxy  this,  indeed,  to  which  a 
person  may  thus  attain,  without  so  much  as  turning  over  a  single 
leaf  of  his  Bible,  whereas  Christ  knew  no  other  way  of  leading  us 
to  the  knowledge  of  Himself,  at  least  has  prescribed  no  other,  but  by 
searching  the  Scriptures,  with  reliance  upon  His  Holy  Spirit.  A 
person  may,  however,  by  this  short  and  easy  method,  become  as  or- 
thodox as  the  Apostle  Paul  (if  such  superficial  professions,  such 
mere  hearsay  verbal  repetitions  can  be  called  orthodoxy)  without 
ever  once  consulting  the  Bible,  or  so  much  as  putting  up  a  single 
petition  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  guide  him  into  all  truth,  to  open  his 
understanding  to  know  the  Scriptures ;  for,  his  form  of  sound  words 
truly  believed,  if  it  happened  to  be  right,  must,  without  more  ado, 
infallibly  secure  his  orthodoxy.  Thrice  happy  'expedient !  But  is 
there  no  Latitudinarianism  in  all  this  ?  Is  not  this  taking  a  latitude, 
in  devising  ways  and  means  for  accomplishing  divine  and  saving 
purposes,  which  the  divine  law  has  nowhere  prescribed,  for  which 
the  Scriptures  nowhere  afford  us  either  precept  or  precedent  ?  Un- 
less it  can  be  shown  that  making  human  standards  to  determine  the 
doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  the  Church  for 
the  purpose  of  preserving  her  unity  and  purity,  and  requiring  an 
approbation  of  them  as  a  term  of  communion  is  a  Scripture  institu- 
tion. Far  be  it  from  us,  in  the  meantime,  to  allege  that  the  Church 
should  not  make  every  Scriptural  exertion  in  her  power  to  preserve 
her  unity  and  purity ;  to  teach  and  train  up  her  members  in  the 
knowledge  of  all  divinely  revealed  truth  ;  or  to  say  that  the  evils 
above  complained  of  attached  to  all  that  are  in  the  habit  of  using 
the  aforesaid  helps ;  or  that  this  wretched  state  of  things,  however 
general,  necessarily  proceeds  from  the  legitimate  use  of  such ;  but 
rather  and  entirely  from  the  abuse  of  them,  which  is  the  very  and  only 
thing  that  we  are  all  along  opposing  when  we  allude  to  those  subordi- 
nate standards.  (An  appellation  this,  by  the  by,  which  appears  to  us 
highly  paradoxical,  if  not  utterly  inconsistent,  and  full  of  confusion.) 


Declaration  and  Address  193 


But,  however  this  may  be,  we  are  by  no  means  to  be  understood  as 
at  all  wishing  to  deprive  our  fellow-Christians  of  any  necessary  and 
possible  assistance  to  understand  the  Scriptures,  or  to  come  to  a  dis- 
tinct and  particular  knowledge  of  every  trutli  they  contain,  for 
which  purpose  the  Westminster  Confession  and  catechisms  may, 
with  many  other  excellent  performances,  prove  eminently  useful. 
But,  having  served  ourselves  of  these,  let  our  profiting  appear  to  all, 
by  our  manifest  acquaintance  with  the  Bible  ;  by  making  our  pro- 
fession of  faith  and  obedience;  by  declaring  its  divine  dictates,  in 
which  we  acquiesce,  as  the  subject-matter  and  rule  of  both ;  in  our 
ability  to  take  tlie  Scripture  in  its  connection  upon  these  subjects,  so 
as  to  understand  one  part  of  it  by  the  assistance  of  another ;  and  in 
manifesting  our  self-knowledge,  our  knowledge  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion and  of  the  mystery  of  the  Christian  life,  in  the  express  light  of 
divine  revelation,  by  a  direct  and  immediate  reference  to,  and  cor- 
rect repetition  of  what  it  declares  upon  those  subjects.  We  take  it 
for  granted  that  no  man  either  knows  God,  or  himself,  or  the  way  of 
salvation,  but  in  so  far  as  he  has  heard  and  understood  His  voice 
upon  those  subjects,  as  addressed  to  him  in  the  Scriptures,  and  that, 
tljerefore,  whatever  he  has  heard  and  learned  of  a  saving  nature,  is 
contained  in  the  express  terms  of  the  Bible.  If  so,  in  the  express 
terms,  in  and  by  which  "  he  hath  heard  and  learned  of  the  Father," 
let  .him  declare  it.  This  by  no  means  forbids  him  to  use  helps,  but, 
we  humbly  presume,  will  effectually  prevent  him  from  resting  either 
in  them  or  upon  them,  which  is  the  evil  so  justly  complained  of ; 
from  taking  up  with  the  directory  instead  of  the  object  to  which  it 
directs.  Thus  will  the  whole  subject  of  his  faith  and  duty,  in  so  far 
as  he  has  attained,  be  expressly  declared  in  a  "Thus  saith  the  Lord." 
And  is  it  not  worthy  of  remark,  that  of  whatever  use  other  books 
may  be,  to  direct  and  lead  us  to  the  Bible,  or  to  prepare  and  assist 
us  to  understand  it,  yet  the  Bible  never  directs  us  to  any  book  but  it- 
self. When  we  come  forward,  then,  as  Christians,  to  be  received  by 
the  Church,  which,  properly  speaking,  has  but  one  book,  "  For  to  it 
were  committed  the  oracles  of  God,"  let  us  hear  of  none  else.  Is  it 
not  upon  the  credible  profession  of  our  faith  in,  and  obedience  to  its 
divine  contents,  that  the  Church  is  bound  to  receive  applicants  for  ad- 
mission ?  And  does  not  a  profession  of  our  faith  and  obedience 
necessarily  presuppose  a  knowledge  of  the  dictates  we  profess  to  be- 
lieve and  obey  ?    Surely,  then,  we  can  declare  them,  and  as  surely, 


194  Declaration  and  Address 


if  our  faith  and  obedience  be  di%'ine,  as  to  the  subject-matter,  rule, 
and  reason  of  them,  it  must  be  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  "  ;  if  other- 
wise, they  are  merely  human,  being  taught  by  the  precepts  of  men. 
In  the  case  then  before  us,  that  is,  examination  for  Church-member- 
ship, let  the  question  no  longer  be.  What  does  any  human  system  say 
of  the  primitive  or  present  state  of  man  ?  of  the  person,  offices,  and 
relations  of  Christ,  etc.,  etc.  ?  or  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  duty?  but. 
What  says  the  Bible  ?  Were  this  mode  of  procedure  adopted,  how 
much  better  acquainted  with  their  Bibles  would  Christians  be  ?  What 
an  important  alteration  would  it  also  make  in  the  education  of  youth? 
Would  it  not  lay  all  candidates  for  admission  into  the  Church  under 
the  happy  necessity  of  becoming  particularly  acquainted  with  the  holy 
Scriptures  ?  whereas,  according  to  the  present  practice,  thousands 
know  little  about  them. 

One  thing  still  remains  that  may  appear  matter  of  difficulty  or  ob- 
jection to  some,  namely,  that  such  a  close  adherence  to  the  express 
letter  of  the  divine  word,  as  we  seem  to  propose,  for  the  restoration 
and  maintenance  of  Christian  unity,  would  not  only  interfere  with 
the  free  communication  of  our  sentiments  one  to  another  upon  relig- 
ious subjects,  but  must,  of  course,  also  necessarily  interfere  with  the 
public  preaching  and  expounding  of  the  Scriptures  for  the  edification 
of  the  Church.  Such  as  feel  disposed  to  make  this  objection,  should 
justly  consider  that  one  of  a  similar  nature,  and  quite  as  plausible, 
might  be  made  to  the  adoption  of  human  standards,  especially  when 
made  as  some  of  them  confessedly  are,  "  the  standard  for  all  matters 
of  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government."  In  such  a  case  it 
might,  with  as  much  justice,  at  least,  be  objected  to  the  adopters  : 
You  have  now  no  more  use  for  the  Bible  ;  you  have  got  another  book, 
which  you  have  adopted  as  a  standard  for  aU  religious  purposes ;  you 
have  no  further  use  for  explaining  the  Scriptures,  either  as  to  matter 
of  faith  or  duty,  for  this  you  have  confessedly  done  already  in  your 
standard,  wherein  you  have  determined  all  matters  of  this  nature. 
You  also  profess  to  hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words,  which  you  have 
thus  adopted,  and  therefore  you  must  never  open  your  mouth  upon 
any  subject  in  any  other  terms  than  those  of  your  standard.  In  the 
meantime,  would  any  of  the  parties  which  has  thus  adopted  its  re- 
spective standard,  consider  any  of  these  charges  just  ?  If  not,  let  them 
do  as  they  would  be  done  by.  We  must  confess,  however,  that  for 
our  part,  we  cannot  see  how,  with  any  shadow  of  consistency,  some 


Declaration  and  Address  195" 


of  them  could  clear  themselves,  especially  of  the  first ;  that  is  to  say, 
if  words  have  any  determinate  meaning ;  for  certainly  it  would  ap- 
pear almost,  if  not  altogether  incontrovertible,  that  a  book  adopted 
by  any  party  as  its  standard  for  all  matters  of  doctrine,  worship,  dis- 
cipline, and  government,  must  be  considered  as  the  Bible  of  that 
party.  And  after  all  that  can  be  said  in  favour  of  such  a  performance, 
be  it  called  Bible,  standard,  or  what  it  may,  it  is  neither  anything 
more  nor  better  than  the  judgment  or  opinion  of  the  party  compos, 
ing  or  adopting  it,  and,  therefore,  wants  the  sanction  of  a  divine 
authority,  except  in  the  opinion  of  the  party  which  has  thus  adopted 
it.  But  can  the  opinion  of  any  party,  be  it  ever  so  respectable,  give 
the  stamp  of  a  divine  authority  to  its  judgments  ?  If  not,  then  every 
human  standard  is  deficient  in  this  leading,  all-important,  and  indis- 
pensable property  of  a  rule  or  standard  for  the  doctrine,  worship, 
discipline,  and  government  of  the  Church  of  God.  But,  without 
insisting  further  upon  the  intrinsic  and  irremediable  deficiency  of 
human  standards  for  the  above  purpose  (which  is  undeniably  evi- 
dent if  it  be  granted  that  a  divine  authority  is  indispensably  neces- 
sary to  constitute  a  standard  or  rule  for  divine  things,  such  as  is  the 
constitution  and  managements,  the  faith,  and  worship  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church),  we  would  humbly  ask,  Would  any  of  the  parties  con- 
sider as  just  the  foregoing  objections,  however  conclusive  and  well 
founded  all  or  any  of  them  may  appear  ?  We  believe  they  would 
not.  And  may  we  not  with  equal  consistency  hold  fast  the  expressly 
revealed  will  of  God,  in  the  very  terms  in  which  it  is  expressed  in 
His  holy  word,  as  the  very  expression  of  our  faith  and  express  rule 
of  our  duty,  and  yet  take  the  same  liberty  that  they  do,  notwith- 
standing their  professed  and  steadfast  adherence  to  their  respective 
standards  ?  We  find  they  do  not  cease  to  expound,  because  they 
have  already  expounded,  as  before  alleged,  nor  yet  do  they  always 
confine  themselves  to  the  express  terms  of  their  respective  standards, 
yet  they  acknowledge  them  to  be  their  standards  and  profess  to  hold 
them  fast.  Yea,  moreover,  some  of  them  profess,  and,  if  we  may 
conclude  from  facts,  we  believe  each  of  them  is  disposed  to  defend 
by  occasional  vindications  (or  testimonies,  as  some  call  them)  the 
sentiments  they  have  adopted  and  engrossed  in  their  standards, 
without  at  the  same  time  requiring  an  approbation  of  those  occa- 
sional performances  as  a  term  of  communion.  And  what  should 
hinder  us,  or  any,  adopting  the  divine  standard,  as  aforesaid,  with 


196  Declaration  and  Address 


equal  consistency  to  do  the  same  for  the  vindication  of  the  divine 
truths  expressly  revealed  and  enjoined  therein  ?  To  say  that  we 
cannot  believe  and  profess  the  truth,  understand  one  another,  in- 
culcate and  vindicate  the  faith  and  law  of  Christ,  or  do  the  duties 
incumbent  upon  Christians  or  a  Christian  Church  without  a  human 
standard,  is  not  only  saying  that  such  a  standard  is  quite  essential 
to  the  very  being  of  Christianity,  and,  of  course,  must  have  existed 
before  a  Church  was  or  could  be  formed,  but  it  is  also  saying,  that 
without  such  a  standard,  the  Bible  would  be  quite  inadequate  as  a 
rule  of  faith  and  duty,  or,  rather,  of  no  use  at  all,  except  to  furnish 
materials  for  such  a  work ;  whereas  the  Church  of  Ephesus,  long  be- 
fore we  have  any  account  of  the  existence  of  such  a  standard,  is  not 
only  mentioned,  with  many  others,  as  in  a  state  of  existence,  and  of 
high  attainments  too,  but  is  also  commended  for  her  vigilance  and 
fidelity  in  detecting  and  rejecting  false  apostles.  "  Thou  hast  tried 
them  which  say  they  are  apostles,  and  are  not,  and  hast  found  them 
liars."  But  should  any  pretend  to  say  that  although  such  perform- 
ances be  not  essential  to  the  very  being  of  the  Church,  yet  are  they 
highly  conducive  to  its  well-being  and  perfection.  For  the  confuta- 
tion of  such  an  assertion,  we  would  again  appeal  to  Church  history 
and  existing  facts  and  leave  the  judicious  and  intelligent  Christian  to 
determine. 

If  after  all  that  has  been  said,  any  should  still  pretend  to  affirm 
that  the  plan  we  profess  to  adopt  and  recommend  is  truly  lati- 
tudinarian,  in  the  worst  and  fullest  sense  of  the  term,  inasmuch  as 
it  goes  to  make  void  all  human  efforts  to  maintain  the  unity  and 
purity  of  the  Church,  by  substituting  a  vague  and  indefinite  approba- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  as  an  alternative  for  creeds,  confessions,  and 
testimonies,  and  thereby  opens  a  wide  door  for  the  reception  of  all 
sorts  of  characters  and  opinions  into  the  Church.  Were  we  not 
convinced  by  experience,  that  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been 
said,  such  objections  would  likely  be  made,  or  that  some  weak 
persons  might  possibly  consider  them  as  good  as  demonstration, 
especially  when  proceeding  from  highly  influential  characters  (and 
there  have  not  been  wanting  such  in  all  ages  to  oppose,  under 
various  plausible  pretenses,  the  unity  and  peace  of  the  Church),  were 
it  not  for  these  considerations,  we  should  content  ourselves  vrith 
what  we  have  already  advanced  upon  the  whole  of  the  subject,  as 
being  well  assured  that  duly  attended  to,  there  would  not  be  the 


Declaration  and  Address  197 


least  room  for  such  an  objection ;  but  to  prevent  if  possible  such 
unfounded  conclusions,  or  if  this  cannot  be  done,  to  caution  and 
assist  the  too  credulous  and  unwary  professor,  that  he  may  not  be 
carried  away  all  at  once  with  the  high-toned  confidence  of  bold 
assertion,  we  would  refer  him  to  the  overture  for  union  in  truth 
contained  in  the  foregoing  address.  Union  in  truth,  among  all  the 
manifest  subjects  of  grace  and  truth,  is  what  we  advocate.  We 
carry  our  views  of  union  no  further  than  this,  nor  do  we  presume 
to  recommend  it  upon  any  other  principle  than  truth  alone.  Now, 
surely,  truth  is  something  certain  and  definite  ;  if  not,  who  will  take 
upon  him  to  define  and  determine  it  ?  This  we  suppose  God  has 
sufficiently  done  already  in  His  holy  word.  That  men,  therefore, 
truly  receive  and  make  the  proper  use  of  the  divine  word  for  walk- 
ing together  in  truth  and  peace,  in  holiness  and  charity,  is,  no  doubt, 
the  ardent  desire  of  all  the  genuine  subjects  of  our  holy  religion. 
This,  we  see,  however,  they  have  not  done,  to  the  awful  detriment 
and  manifest  subversion  of  what  we  might  almost  call  the  primary 
intention  of  Christianity.  We  dare  not,  therefore,  follow  their  ex- 
ample, nor  adopt  their  ruinous  expedients.  But  does  it,  therefore, 
follow  that  Christians  may  not,  or  cannot  take  proper  steps  to 
ascertain  that  desirable  and  preceptive  unity  which  the  divine  word 
requires  and  enjoins  ?  Surely  no ;  at  least  we  have  supposed  no 
such  thing ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  overtured  to  our  brethen 
what  appears  to  us  undeniably  just  and  Scripturally  evident,  and 
which,  we  humbly  think,  if  adopted  and  acted  upon,  would  have  the 
desired  effect ;  adopted  and  acted  upon,  not  indeed  as  a  standard  for 
the  doctrme,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  the  Church,  for  it 
pretends  not  to  determine  these  matters,  but  rather  supposes  the  ex- 
istence of  a  fixed  and  certain  standard  of  divine  original,  in  which 
everything  that  the  wisdom  of  God  saw  meet  to  reveal  and  determine, 
for  these  and  all  other  purposes, is  expressly  defined  and  determined; 
between  the  Christian  and  which,  no  medium  of  human  determination 
ought  to  be  interposed.  In  all  this  there  is  surely  nothing  like  the 
denial  of  any  lawful  effort  to  promote  and  maintain  the  Church's 
unity,  though  there  be  a  refusal  of  the  unwarrantable  interposition 
of  an  unauthorized  and  assuming  power. 

Let  none  imagine  that  we  are  here  determining  upon  the  merits 
of  the  overture  to  which,  in  the  case  before  us,  we  find  it  necessary 
to  apf)e»l  in  our  own  defense  against  the  injustice  of  the  supposed 


198  Declaration  and  Address 


charge  above  specified.  To  the  judgment  of  our  brethren  have  we 
referred  that  matter,  and  vifith  them  we  leave  it.  All  we  intend, 
therefore,  is  to  avail  ourselves  so  far  of  what  we  have  done,  as  to 
show  that  we  have  no  intention  whatsoever  of  substituting  a  vague 
indefinite  approbation  of  the  Scriptures  as  an  alternative  for  creeds, 
confessions,  and  testimonies,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  Church 
to  her  original  constitutional  unity  and  purity.  In  avoiding  Scylla 
we  would  cautiously  guard  against  being  wrecked  upon  Charybdis. 
Extremes,  we  are  told,  are  dangerous.  We,  therefore,  suppose  a 
middle  way,  a  safe  way,  so  plainly  marked  out  by  unerring  wisdom, 
that  if  duly  attended  to  under  the  divine  direction,  the  wayfaring 
men,  though  fools,  need  not  err  therein,  and  of  such  is  the  king- 
dom of  God :  "  For  He  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the 
world  to  confound  the  wise."  We,  therefore,  conclude  it  must  be 
a  plain  way,  a  way  most  graciously  and  most  judiciously  adapted  to 
the  capacity  of  the  subjects,  and  consequently  not  the  way  of  sub- 
scribing or  otherwise  approving  human  standards  as  a  term  of  ad- 
mission into  His  Church,  as  a  test  and  defense  of  orthodoxy,  which 
even  the  compilers  themselves  are  not  always  agreed  about,  and 
which  nineteen  out  of  twenty  of  the  Lord's  people  cannot  thoroughly 
understand.  It  must  be  a  way  very  far  remote  from  logical  subtilties 
and  metaphysical  speculations,  and  as  such  we  have  taken  it  up, 
upon  the  plainest  and  most  obvious  principles  of  divine  revelation 
and  common  sense — the  common  sense,  we  mean,  of  Christians,  ex- 
ercised upon  the  plainest  and  most  obvious  truths  and  facts  divinely 
recorded  for  their  instruction.  Hence  we  have  supposed,  in  the  first 
place,  the  true  discrimination  of  Christian  character  to  consist  in  an 
intelligent  profession  of  our  faith  in  Christ  and  obedience  to  Him  in 
all  things  according  to  the  Scriptures,  the  reality  of  which  profession 
is  manifested  by  the  holy  consistency  of  the  tempers  and  conduct  of 
the  professors  with  the  express  dictates  and  approved  examples  of 
the  divine  word.  Hence  we  have  humility,  faith,  piety,  temperance, 
justice,  charity,  etc.,  professed  and  manifested,  in  the  first  instance,  by 
the  persons  professing  with  self-application  the  convincing,  humbling, 
encouraging,  pious,  temperate,  just  and  charitable  doctrines  and 
precepts  of  the  inspired  volume,  as  exhibited  and  enforced  in  its  holy 
and  approved  examples,  and  the  sincerity  of  this  profession  evidently 
manifested  by  the  consistency  of  the  professor's  temper  and  conduct 
with  the  entire  subject  of  his  profession,  either  by  an  irreprovable 


Declaration  and  Address  199 


conformity,  like  good  Zachariah  and  Elizabeth,  which  is  of  all  things 
most  desirable,  or  otherwise,  in  case  of  any  visible  failure,  by  an 
apparently  sincere  repentance  and  evident  reformation.  Such  pro- 
fessors, and  such  only,  have  we  supposed  to  be,  by  common  consent, 
truly  worthy  the  Christian  name.  Ask  from  the  one  end  of  heaven 
to  the  other,  the  whole  number  of  such  intelligent  and  consistent 
professors  as  we  intend  and  have  described,  and,  we  humbly  pre- 
sume, there  will  not  be  found  one  dissenting  voice.  They  will  all 
acknowledge,  with  one  consent,  that  the  true  discrimination  of  Chris- 
tian character  consists  in  these  things,  and  that  the  radical  or  mani- 
fest want  of  any  of  the  aforesaid  properties  completely  destroys  the 
character. 

We  have  here  only  taken  for  granted  what  we  suppose  no  rational 
professor  will  venture  to  deny ;  namely :  that  the  divine  word  con- 
tains an  ample  sufficiency  upon  every  one  of  the  foregoing  topics  to 
stamp  the  above  character,  if  so  be  that  the  impressions  which  its 
express  declarations  are  obviously  calculated  to  produce  be  truly 
received ;  for  instance,  suppose  a  person  profess  to  believe,  with 
application  to  himself,  that  whole  description  of  human  depravity 
and  wretchedness  which  the  Scriptures  exhibit  of  fallen  man,  in  the 
express  declarations  and  dismal  examples  of  human  wickedness 
therein  recorded,  contrasted  with  the  holy  nature,  the  righteous 
requirements,  and  inflexible  justice  of  an  infinitely  holy,  just,  and 
jealous  God,  would  not  the  subject-matter  of  such  a  profession  be 
amply  sufficient  to  impress  the  believing  mind  with  the  most  pro- 
found humility,  self-abhorrence,  and  dreadful  apprehension  of  the 
tremendous  effects  of  sin?  Again,  should  the  person  profess  to  be- 
lieve, in  connection  with  this,  all  that  the  Scriptures  declare  of  the 
sovereign  love,  mercy,  and  condescension  of  God  towards  guilty, 
depraved,  rebellious  man,  as  the  same  is  manifested  in  Christ,  and  in 
all  the  gracious  declarations,  invitations,  and  promises  that  are  made 
in  and  through  Him  for  the  relief  and  encouragement  of  the  guilty, 
etc.,  would  not  all  this,  taken  together,  be  sufficient  to  impress  the  be- 
lieving mind  with  the  most  lively  confidence,  gratitude,  and  love  ? 
Should  this  person,  moreover,  profess  that  delight  and  confidence  in 
the  divine  Redeemer — that  voluntary  submission  to  Him — that  wor- 
ship and  adoration  of  Him  which  the  Scriptures  expressly  declare 
to  have  been  the  habits  and  practice  of  His  people,  would  not  the 
subject-matter  of  this  profession  be  amply  sufficient  to  impress  the 


200  Declaration  and  Address 


believing  mind  with  that  dutiful  disposition,  with  that  gracious 
veneration  and  supreme  reverence  which  the  word  of  God  re- 
quires ?  And  should  not  all  this  taken  together  satisfy  the  Church, 
in  so  far,  in  point  of  profession  ?  If  not,  there  is  no  alternative  but  a 
new  revelation ;  seeing  that  to  deny  this,  is  to  assert  that  a  distinct 
perception  and  sincere  profession  of  whatever  the  word  declares 
upon  every  point  of  faith  and  duty,  is  not  only  insufficient,  as  a 
doctrinal  means,  to  produce  a  just  and  suitable  impression  in  the 
mind  of  the  believing  subject,  but  is  also  insufficient  to  satisfy  the 
Church  as  to  a  just  and  adequate  profession  ;  if  otherwise,  then  it 
will  necessarily  follow,  that  not  every  sort  of  character,  but  that  one 
sort  only,  is  admissible  upon  the  principle  we  have  adopted ;  and 
that  by  the  universal  consent  of  all  that  we,  at  least,  dare  venture  to 
call  Christians,  this  is  acknowledged  to  be,  exclusively,  the  true 
Christian  character.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  fixed  point,  a  certain 
description  of  character,  which  combines  in  every  professing  subject 
the  Scriptural  profession,  the  evident  manifestation  of  humility,  faith, 
piety,  temperance,  justice,  and  charity,  instructed  by,  and  evidently 
answering  to  the  entire  declaration  of  the  word  upon  each  of  those 
topics,  which,  as  so  many  properties,  serve  to  constitute  the  character. 
Here,  we  say,  we  have  a  fixed,  and  at  the  same  time  sweeping  dis- 
tinction, which,  as  of  old,  manifestly  divides  the  whole  world,  how- 
ever otherwise  distinguished,  into  but  two  classes  only.  "  We 
know,"  said  the  apostle,  evidently  speaking  of  such,  "  that  we  are 
of  God,  and  the  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness." 

Should  it  be  inquired  concerning  the  persons  included  in  this  de- 
scription of  character,  whether  they  be  Arminians  or  Calvinists,  or 
both  promiscuously  huddled  together  ?  It  may  be  justly  replied, 
that  according  to  what  we  have  proposed,  they  can  be  nominally 
neither,  and  of  course  not  both,  for  we  call  no  man  master  on  earth, 
for  one  is  our  Master,  even  Christ,  and  all  we  are  brethren,  are 
Christians  by  profession  ;  and  as  such  abstract  speculation  and  argu- 
mentative theory  make  no  part  either  of  our  profession  or  practice. 
Such  professors,  then,  as  we  intend  and  have  described,  are  just 
what  their  profession  and  practice  make  them  'to  be ;  and  this  we 
hope  has  been  Scripturally,  and,  we  might  add,  satisfactorily  defined, 
in  so  far,  at  least,  as  the  limits  of  so  brief  a  performance  would  ad- 
mit. We  also  entertain  the  pleasing  confidence  that  the  plan  of 
procedure  which  we  have  ventured  to  suggest,  if  duly  attended  to,  if 


Declaration  and  Address  20 1 


fully  reduced  to  practice,  would  necessarily  secure  to  the  professing 
subject  all  the  advantages  of  divinely  revealed  truth,  without  any 
liability  to  conceal,  to  diminish,  or  to  misrepresent  it,  as  it  goes  im- 
mediately to  ascribe  everything  to  God  respecting  His  sovereignty, 
independence,  pov/er,  wisdom,  goodness,  justice,  truth,  holiness, 
mercy,  condescension,  love,  and  grace,  etc.,  which  is  ascribed  to  Him 
in  His  word,  as  also  to  receive  whatever  it  declares  concerning  the 
absolute  dependence  of  the  poor,  guilty,  depraved,  polluted  creature, 
upon  the  divine  will,  power,  and  grace  for  every  saving  purpose ; 
a  just  perception  and  correspondent  profession  of  which,  according 
to  the  Scriptures,  is  supposed  to  constitute  that  fundamental  ingredient 
in  Christian  character  :  true  evangelical  humility.  And  so  of  the  rest. 
Having  thus,  we  hope,  Scripturally  and  evidently  determined  the 
character,  with  the  proper  mode  of  ascertaining  it,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  concerned,  we  next  proceed  to  affirm,  with  the  same  Scriptural 
evidence,  that  among  such,  however  situated,  whether  in  the  same 
or  similar  associations,  there  ought  to  be  no  schisms,  no  uncharitable 
divisions,  but  that  they  ought  all  mutually  to  receive  and  acknowledge 
each  other  as  brethren.  As  to  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  they  are  all 
likewise  agreed,  without  one  dissenting  voice.  We  next  suggest 
that  for  this  purpose  they  ought  all  to  walk  by  the  same  rule,  to 
mind  and  speak  the  same  thing,  etc.,  and  that  this  rule  is,  and  ought 
to  be,  the  divine  standard.  Here  again  we  presume  there  can  be 
no  objection  ;  no,  not  a  single  dissenting  voice.  As  to  the  rule  itself, 
we  have  ventured  to  allege  that  the  New  Testament  is  the  proper 
and  immediate  rule,  directory,  and  formula  for  the  New  Testament 
Church,  and  for  the  particular  duties  of  Christians,  as  the  Old  Tes- 
tament was  for  the  Old  Testament  Church,  and  for  the  particular 
duties  of  the  subject  under  that  dispensation;  at  the  same  time  by  no 
means  excluding  the  Old  as  fundamental  to,  illustrative  of,  and  in- 
separably connected  with  the  New,  and  as  being  every  way  of  equal 
authority,  as  well  as  of  an  entire  sameness  with  it  in  every  point  of 
moral  natural  duty,  though  not  immediately  our  rule,  without  the 
intervention  and  coincidence  of  the  New,  in  which  our  Lord  has 
taught  His  people,  by  the  ministry  of  His  holy  apostles,  all  things 
whatsoever  they  should  observe  and  do,  till  the  end  of  the  world. 
Thus  we  come  to  the  one  rule,  taking  the  Old  Testament  as  ex- 
jilained  and  perfected  by  the  New,  and  the  New  as  illustrated  and  en- 
forced by  the  Old  ;  assuming  the  latter  as  the  proper  and  immediate 


202  Declaration  and  Address 


directory  for  the  Christian  Church,  as  also  for  the  positive  and  par- 
ticular duties  of  Christians  as  to  all  things  whatsoever  they  should 
observe  and  do.  Further,  that  in  the  observance  of  this  divine 
rule,  this  authentic  and  infaUible  directory,  all  such  may  come  to  the 
desirable  coincidence  of  holy  unity  and  uniformity  of  profession  and 
practice,  we  have  overtured  that  they  all  sjseak,  profess,  and  practice 
the  very  same  things  that  are  exhibited  ujjon  the  sacred  page  of 
New  Testament  Scripture,  as  spoken  and  done  by  the  divine  ap- 
pointment and  approbation ;  and  that  this  be  extended  to  every  pos- 
sible  instance  of  uniformity,  without  addition  or  diminution,  without 
introducing  anything  of  private  opinion  or  doubtful  disputation  into 
the  public  profession  or  practice  of  the  Church.  Thus  and  thus 
have  we  overtured  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  may  be  clearly 
seen  by  consulting  the  overture  itself;  in  which,  however,  should 
anything  appear  not  sufficientiy  explicit,  we  flatter  ourselves  it  may 
be  fully  understood  by  taking  into  consideration  what  has  been  va- 
riously suggested  upon  this  important  subject  throughout  the  whole 
of  these  premises  ;  so  that  if  any  due  degree  of  attention  be  paid,  we 
should  think  it  next  to  impossible  that  we  could  be  so  far  misunder- 
stood as  to  be  charged  with  Latitudinarianism  in  any  usual  sense  of 
the  word.  Here  we  have  proposed  but  one  description  of  character 
as  eligible,  or,  indeed,  as  at  all  admissible  to  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  Christianity.  This  description  of  character  we  have  de&ned  by 
certain  and  distinguishing  properties,  which  not  only  serve  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  every  other,  but  in  which  all  the  real  subjects 
themselves  are  agreed,  without  one  exception,  all  such  being 
mutually  and  reciprocally  acknowledged  by  each  other  as  legitimate 
members  of  the  Church  of  God.  All  these,  moreover,  agreeing  in  the 
indispensable  obligation  of  their  unity,  and  in  the  one  rule  by  which 
it  is  instructed,  and  also  in  the  preceptive  necessity  of  an  entire  uni- 
formity in  their  public  profession  and  managements  for  promoting 
and  preserving  this  unity,  that  there  should  be  no  schism  in  the 
body,  but  that  all  the  members  should  have  the  same  care  one  for 
another ;  yet  in  many  instances,  unhappily,  and,  we  may  truly  say 
involuntarily  differing  through  mistake  and  mismanagement,  which 
it  is  our  humble  desire  and  endeavour  to  detect  and  remove,  by 
obviating  everything  that  causeth  difference,  being  persuaded  that 
as  truth  is  one  and  indivisible  wherever  it  exists,  so  all  the  genuine 
subjects  of  it,  if  disentangled  from  artificial  impediments,  must  and 


Declaration  and  Address  203 


will  necessarily  fall  in  together,  be  all  on  one  side,  united  in  one  pro- 
fession, acknowledge  each  other  as  brethren,  and  love  as  children  of 
the  same  family.  For  this  purpose  we  have  overtured  a  certain  and 
determinate  application  of  the  rule,  to  which  we  presume  there  can 
be  no  reasonable  objection,  and  which,  if  adopted  and  acted  upon, 
must,  we  think,  infallibly  produce  the  desired  effect ;  unless  we 
should  suppose  that  to  say  and  do  what  is  expressly  said  and  done 
before  our  eyes  upon  the^sacred  page,  would  offend  the  believer, 
or  that  a  strict  uniformity,  and  entire  Scriptural  sameness  in  profes- 
sion and  practice,  would  produce  divisions  and  offenses  among  those 
who  are  already  united  in  one  spirit,_one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism, 
one  hope  of  their  calling,  and  in  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is 
above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  them  all,  as  is  confessedly  the  case 
with  all  of  this  character  throughout  all  the  Churches.  To  induce  to 
this  we  have  also  attempted  to  calltheir  attention  to  the  heinous  nature 
and  awful  consequences  of  schism,  and  to  that  evil  anti-scriptural 
principle  from  which  it  necessarily  proceeds.  We  have  likewise  en- 
deavoured to  show,  we  humbly  think  with  demonstrable  evidence, 
that  there  is  no  alternative  but  either  to  adopt  that  Scriptural  uni- 
formity we  have  recommended,  or  else  continue  as  we  are,  bewildered 
in  schisms  and  overwhelmed  with  the  accursed  evils  inseparable 
from  such  a  state.  It  remains  now  with  our  brethren  to  determine 
upon  the  whole  of  these  premises,  to  adopt  or  to  reject,  as  they 
see  cause ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  let  none  impeach  us  with  the 
latitudinarian  expedient  of  substituting  a  vague,  indefinite  approba- 
tion of  the  holy  Scriptures  as  an  alternative  for  the  present  prac- 
tice of  making  the  approbation  of  human  standards  a  term  of 
communion  ;  as  it  is  undeniably  evident  that  nothing  can  be  further 
from  our  intention.  Were  we  to  judge  of  what  we  humbly  propose 
and  urge  as  indispensably  necessary  for  the  reformation  and  unity 
of  the  Church,  we  should  rather  apprehend  that  there  was  reason 
to  fear  a  charge  of  a  very  different  nature  ;  namely :  that  we  aimed 
at  too  much  strictness,  both  as  to  the  description  of  character  which 
we  say  ought  only  to  be  admitted,  and  also  as  to  the  use  and  appli- 
cation of  the  rule.  But  should  this  be  the  case,  we  shall  cheerfully 
bear  with  it,  as  being  fully  satisfied  that  not  only  the  common 
sentiment  of  all  apparently  sincere,  intelligent,  and  practical  Chris- 
tians is  on  our  side,  but  that  also  the  plainest  and  most  ample 
testimonies  of  the  inspired  volume  sufficiently  attest  the  truth  and 


204  Declaration  and  Address 


propriety  of  what  we  plead  for,  as  essential  to  the  Scriptural  unity 
and  purity  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  this,  we  humbly  presume, 
is  what  we  should  incessantly  aim  at.  It  would  be  strange,  indeed, 
if,  in  contending  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints, 
we  should  overlook  those  fruits  of  righteousness,  that  manifest 
humility,  piety,  temperance,  justice,  and  charity,  without  which 
faith  itself  is  dead,  being  alone.  We  trust  we  have  not  so  learned 
Christ;  if  so  be  we  have  been  taught  by  Him  as  the  trutli  is  in 
Jesus,  we  must  have  learned  a  very  different  lesson  indeed.  While 
we  would,  therefore,  insist  upon  an  entire  conformity  to  the  Scrip- 
tures in  profession,  that  we  might  all  believe  and  speak  the  same 
things,  and  thus  be  perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same  mind  and 
in  the  same  judgment,  we  would,  with  equal  scrupulosity,  insist 
upon  and  look  for  an  entire  conformity  to  them  in  practice,  in  all 
those  whom  we  acknowledge  as  our  brethren  in  Christ.  "  By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  "  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  Me, 
Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  My  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  Therefore  whoso- 
ever heareth  those  sayings  of  Mine,  and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be 
likened  unto  a  foolish  man  which  built  his  house  upon  the  sand. 
Woe  unto  you  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites,  for  ye  say  and  do 
not."  We,  therefore,  conclude  that  to  advocate  unity  alone,  how- 
ever desirable  in  itself,  without  at  the  same  time  purging  the  Church 
of  apparently  unsanctified  characters,  even  of  all  that  cannot  show 
their  faith  by  their  works,  would  be,  at  best,  but  a  poor,  superficial, 
skin-deep  reformation.  It  is  from  such  characters,  then,  as  the  pro- 
posed reformation,  if  carried  into  effect,  would  entirely  deprive  of  a 
name  and  a  place  in  the  Church,  that  we  have  the  greatest  reason  to 
apprehend  a  determined  and  obstinate  opposition.  And  alas  !  there 
are  very  many  of  this  description,  and  in  many  places,  of  consider- 
able influence.  But  neither  should  this  discourage  us,  when  we  con- 
sider the  expressly  revealed  will  of  God  upon  this  point,  Ezek.  xliv. 
6,  9,  with  Matt.  xiii.  15.  17  ;  I  Cor.  v.  6,  13,  with  many  other  Scrip- 
tures. Nor,  in  the  end,  will  the  multitude  of  unsanctified  professors 
which  the  proposed  reformation  would  necessarily  exclude,  have  any 
reason  to  rejoice  in  the  unfaithfulness  of  those  that  either  through 
ignorance,  or  for  filthy  lucre  sake,  indulged  them  with  a  name  and 
place  in  the  Church  of  God.  These  unfaithful  stewards,  these  now 
mistaken  friends,  will  one  day  be  considered  by  such  as  their  most 


Declaration  and  Address  205 


cruel  and  heacherous  enemies.  These,  then,  are  our  sentiments 
upon  the  entiie  subject  of  Church  reformation  ;  call  it  Latitudinarian- 
ism,  or  Puritanism,  or  what  you  please ;  and  this  is  the  reformation 
for  which  we  plead.  Thus,  upon  the  wliole,  have  we  briefly  at- 
tempted to  point  out  those  evils,  and  to  prevent  those  mistakes  which 
we  earnestly  desire  to  see  obviated  for  the  general  peace,  welfare, 
and  prosperity  of  the  Churcli  of  God.  Our  dear  brethren,  giving 
credit  to  our  sincere  and  well-meant  intention,  will  charitably  ex- 
cuse the  imperfections  of  our  humble  performance,  and  by  the  assist- 
ance of  their  better  judgment  correct  those  mistakes,  and  supply  those 
deficiencies  which  in  a  first  attempt  of  this  nature  may  have  escaped 
our  notice.  We  are  sorry,  in  the  meantime,  to  have  felt  a  necessity 
of  approaching  so  near  the  borders  of  controversy,  by  briefly  attempt- 
ing to  answer  objections  which  we  plainly  foresaw  would,  through 
mistake  or  prejudice,  be  made  against  our  proceedings ;  controversy 
making  no  part  of  our  intended  plan.  But  such  objections  and  sur- 
mises having  already  reached  our  ears  from  different  quarters,  we 
thought  it  necessary  to  attend  to  them,  that,  by  so  doing,  we  might 
not  only  prevent  mistakes,  but  also  save  our  friends  the  trouble  of 
entering  into  verbal  disputes  in  order  to  remove  them,  and  thus 
prevent,  as  much  as  possible,  that  most  unhappy  of  all  practices 
sanctioned  by  the  plausible  pretense  of  zeal  for  the  truth — religious 
controversy  among  professors.  We  would,  therefore,  humbly  advise 
our  friends  to  concur  with  us  in  our  professed  and  sincere  intention 
to  avoid  this  evil  practice.  Let  it  suffice  to  put  into  the  liands  of 
such  as  desire  information  what  we  hereby  publish  for  that  purpose. 
If  this,  however,  should  not  satisfy,  let  them  give  in  their  objections 
in  writing ;  we  shall  thankfully  receive,  and  seriously  consider,  with 
all  due  attention,  whatever  comes  before  us  in  this  way ;  but  verbal 
controversy  we  absolutely  refuse.  Let  none  imagine  that  by  so  say- 
ing, we  mean  to  dissuade  Christians  from  affording  all  the  assistance 
they  can  to  each  other  as  humble  inquirers  after  truth.  To  de- 
cline this  friendly  office  would  be  to  refuse  the  performance  of  an 
important  duty.  But  certainly  there  is  a  manifest  diflerence  between 
speaking  the  truth  in  love  for  the  edification  of  our  brethren,  and 
attacking  each  other  with  a  spirit  of  controversial  hostility,  to  confute 
and  prove  each  other  wrong.  We  believe  it  is  rare  to  find  one  in- 
stance of  this  kind  of  arguing  that  does  not  terminate  in  bitterness. 
Let  us,  therefore,  cautiously  avoid  it.    Our  Lord  says.  Matt.  xvii.  7  : 


2o6  Declaration  and  Address 


"  Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offenses."  Scott,  in  his  incompar- 
able work  lately  published  in  this  country,  called  his  Family  Bible, 
observes  in  his  notes  upon  this  place,  "  that  our  Lord  here  intends  all 
these  evils  within  the  Church  which  prejudice  men's  minds  against 
His  religion,  or  any  doctrines  of  it.  The  scandalous  lives,  horrible 
oppressions,  cruelties,  and  iniquities  of  men  called  Christians ;  their 
divisions  and  bloody  contentions ;  their  idolatries  and  superstitions, 
are  at  this  day  the  grtat  offaises  and  causes  of  stumbling,  to  Jews, 
Mohammedans,  and  Pagans  in  all  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  and 
they  furnish  infidels  of  every  description  with  their  most  dangerous 
weapons  against  the  truth.  The  acrimonious  controversies  agitated 
among  those  who  agree  in  the  principal  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and 
their  mutual  contempt  and  revilings  of  each  other,  together  with  the 
extravagant  notions  and  wicked  practices  found  among  them,  form 
the  grand  prejudice  in  the  minds  of  multitudes  against  evangelical  re- 
ligion, and  harden  the  hearts  of  heretics,  Pharisees,  disguised  infidels, 
and  careless  sinners  against  the  truths  of  the  Gospel.  In  these  and 
numberless  other  ways,  it  may  be  said  :  <  Woe  unto  the  world  because 
of  offenses,'  for  the  devil,  the  sower  of  these  tares,  makes  use  of  them 
in  deceiving  the  nations  of  the  earth  and  in  murdering  the  souls  of 
men.  In  the  present  state  of  human  nature,  it  must  needs  be  that 
such  offenses  should  intervene,  and  God  has  wise  and  righteous 
reasons  for  permitting  them ;  yet  we  should  consider  it  as  the  great- 
est of  evils  to  be  accessory  to  the  destruction  of  souls ;  and  an  awful 
woe  is  denounced  against  every  one  whose  delusions  or  crimes  thus 
stumble  men  and  set  them  against  the  only  method  of  salvation." 
We  conclude  with  an  extract  from  the  Boston  Anthology,  which, 
with  too  many  of  the  same  kind  that  might  be  adduced,  fixrnish  a 
mournful  comment  upon  the  text ;  we  mean,  upon  the  sorrowful  sub- 
ject of  our  woful  divisions  and  corruptions.  The  following  reply  to 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Cram,  missionary  from  Massachusetts  to  the  Senecas, 
was  made  by  the  principal  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  six  nations  in 
council  assembled  at  Buffalo  creek,  State  of  New  York,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  agent  of  the  United  States  for  Indian  affairs,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1805.  "  I  am  come,  brethren,"  said  the  missionary,  "  to 
enlighten  your  minds  and  to  instruct  you  how  to  worship  the  great 
Spirit  agreeably  to  His  will,  and  to  preach  to  you  the  Gospel  of  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  but  one  way  to  serve  God,  and  if  you  do 
not  embrace  the  right  way,  you  cannot  be  happy  hereafter."  To 


Declaration  and  Address  207 


which  they  reply:  "Brother,  we  understand  that  your  rehgion  is 
written  in  a  book.  You  say  that  there  is  but  one  way  to  worship 
and  serve  the  great  Spirit.  If  there  be  but  one  religion,  why  do 
you  white  people  differ  so  much  about  it  ?  Why  not  all  agree  as  you 
can  all  read  the  book  ?  Brother,  we  do  not  understand  these  things. 
We  are  told  your  religion  was  given  to  your  forefathers;  we,  also, 
have  a  religion  which  was  given  to  our  forefathers  ;  it  teaches  us  to 
be  thankful  for  all  the  favours  we  receive  ;  to  love  one  another,  and 
to  be  united.  We  never  quarrel  about  religion.  We  are  told  you 
have  been  preaching  to  the  white  people  in  this  place.  Those  peo- 
ple are  our  neighbours,  we  are  acquainted  with  them.  We  will  wait 
a  little  to  see  what  effect  your  preaching  has  upon  them.  If  we  find 
it  does  them  good,  makes  them  honest,  and  less  disposed  to  cheat 
Indians,  we  will  then  consider  again  of  what  you  have  said." 
Thus  closed  the  conference.  Alas,  poor  people !  how  do  our  di- 
visions and  corruptions  stand  in  your  way !  What  a  pity  that  you 
find  us  not  upon  original  ground,  such  as  the  apostles  left  the  primi- 
tive Churches !  Had  we  but  exhibited  to  you  their  unity  and  charity  ; 
their  humble,  honest,  and  affectionate  deportment  towards  each  other 
and  towards  all  men,  you  would  not  have  had  those  evil  and  shame- 
ful things  to  object  to  our  holy  religion,  and  to  prejudice  your  minds 
against  it.  But  your  conversion,  it  seems,  awaits  our  reformation  ; 
awaits  our  return  to  primitive  unity  and  love.  To  this  may  the  God 
of  mercy  speedily  restore  us,  both  for  your  sakes  and  our  own,  that 
His  way  may  be  known  upon  earth,  and  His  saving  health  among  all 
nations.  Let  the  people  praise  Thee,  O  God  ;  let  all  the  people  praise 
Thee.    Amen,  and  amen. 


Postscript 

The  publication  of  the  foregoing  address  has  been  delayed  much 
longer  than  was  at  first  expected,  through  an  unforeseen  difficulty  of 
obtaining  paper  of  the  quality  intended.  This  difficulty  and  deten- 
tion has  also  interfered  with  the  publication  of  the  discourse  de- 
livered at  the  first  general  meeting  of  the  society,  held  in  Wash- 
ington, November  2d,  in  pursuance  of  resolution  VII,  which 
discourse  the  committee  has  requested  Mr.  Campbell  to  have 
published,  as  soon  as  conveniency  may  serve  for  that  purpose.  At 


2o8  Declaration  and  Address 


the  first  monthly  meeting  of  the  committee,  December  14,  (see 
resolution  VI,)  the  following  considerations  and  proposals  for  the 
better  carrying  into  effect  the  highly  interesting  and  comprehensive 
object  of  the  foregoing  address  were  submitted  and  received  with 
approbation,  viz  :  That  considering  the  very  extensive  and  important 
design  for  which  we  have  associated,  as  specified  in  the  foregoing 
pages,  wherein  we  propose  and  urge  the  necessity  of  a  thorough 
reformation  in  all  things  civil  and  religious  according  to  the  word  of 
God,  as  a  duty  of  indispensable  obligation  upon  all  the  highly  favoured 
subjects  of  the  Gospel,  and  especially  in  this  country,  where  the  Lord 
has  been  graciously  pleased  to  favour  His  professing  people  with  such 
ample  opportunities  for  the  prosecution  and  accomplishment  of  those 
blessed  and  desirable  purposes,  it  behooves  us,  in  so  doing,  to  exert 
our  utmost  energies  in  every  possible  direction  that  may  conduce  to 
render  successful  this  arduous  and  important  undertaking. 

Besides  what  has  been  already  agreed  upon  and  recommended  in 
the  foregoing  pages,  there  yet  remain  two  things  of  apparently  great 
importance  for  promoting  the  grand  object  of  our  association,  which 
this  committee  would  do  well  to  consider,  as  they  seem  to  fall  within 
the  prescribed  limits  of  its  operation ;  and  also  as  it  appears  to  be 
within  the  compass  of  its  power  to  take  effectual  steps  for  ascertain- 
ing the  advantages,  which  the  things  intended,  if  duly  executed, 
would  appear  obviously  calculated  to  produce.  The  first  of  these  is  a 
catechetical  exhibition  of  the  fullness  and  precision  of  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures upon  the  entire  subject  of  Christianity — an  exhibition  of  that 
complete  system  of  faith  and  duty  expressly  contained  in  the  sacred 
oracles;  respecting  the  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government 
of  the  Christian  Church.  The  second  thing  intended  is  a  periodical 
publication,  for  the  express  purpose  of  detecting  and  exposing  the 
various  anticbristian  enormities,  innovations  and  corruptions,  which 
infect  the  Christian  Church,  which  counteract  and  oppose  the  benign 
and  gracious  tendency  of  the  Gospel — the  promotion  and  establish- 
ment of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  upon  earth  ;  by  means  of  which  an 
infinitely  good  and  gi-acious  God  has  designed  to  bless  the  nations — 
to  ameliorate  as  much  as  possible  the  present  wretched  and  suffering 
state  of  mankind ;  upon  the  success  and  establishment  of  which  de- 
pends the  spiritual  and  temporal  welfare  of  every  individual  of  the 
human  family.  Whatever,  therefore,  has  a  tendency  to  undermine,  or 
in  anywise  to  counteract  and  oppose  the  interest  of  this  benign  and 


Declaration  and  Address  209 


gracious  institution  of  infinite  goodness  and  mercy,  becomes  an  evil 
of  no  small  magnitude,  how  trifling  soever  it  might  otherwise  appear. 
"  Take  us  the  foxes,  the  little  foxes  that  spoil  the  vines ;  for  our  vines 
have  tender  grapes."  Cant  2,  15.  Such  a  publication  from  the 
nature  and  design  of  it  ^might  with  propriety  be  denominated  The 
Christian  Monitor. 

The  former  of  these,  namely,  a  catechetical  exhibition  of  the  full- 
ness and  precision  of  the  sacred  .Scriptures  upon  the  entire  subject  of 
faith  and  duty  would,  if  duly  executed,  demonstrably  evince  their 
perfect  sufficiency  independent  of  human  inference — of  the  dictates  of 
private  judgment ;  and  would,  at  the  same  time,  inevitably  lead  the 
professing 'subject  to  learn  everything,  respecting  his  faith  and  duty, 
at  the  mouth  of  God,  without  any  reference  to  human  authority — to 
the  judgment  or  opinions  of  men.  This  would,  at  once,  free  the 
great  majority  of  professing  Christians  from  that  perplexing  uncer- 
tainty and  implicit  faith  to  which  so  many  of  them  are  unhappily 
subjected,  by  the  interposition  of  human  definitions  and  opinions  be- 
tween them  and  the  Bible  ;  many  of  which  are  erroneous ;  and  also 
many  of  which  they  are  unable  to  understand,  so  as  to  determine  cer- 
tainly, whether  they  be  just  and  Scriptural,  or  not.  By  such  an  ex- 
hibition, therefore,  would  professed  Christians  be  delivered,  not  only 
from  these  perplexing  and  dangerous  evils  ("  their  faith,"  by  this 
means,  "  no  longer  standing  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power 
of  God  ;  not  in  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth,")  but  they  would  also  become  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  Scriptures  of  truth — with  that  all-important  word 
which  shall  judge  them  in  the  last  day : — and  at  the  same  time, 
would  come  to  possess  a  much  more  ample  and  enlarged  view  of  the 
alone  sufficiency  and  perfection  of  the  Scriptures  themselves ;  advan- 
tages these  of  no  small  moment  to  the  interest  of  Christianity.  A 
performance  of  this  nature  might  with  apparent  propriety  be  called 
the  Christian  Catechism. 

In  consequence  of  these  considerations  it  is  proposed  and  intended, 
with  the  approbation  and  under  the  patronage  of  the  Christian  Asso- 
ciation of  Washington,  to  forward  as  fast  as  possible  the  publication 
of  the  works  above  described,  viz  :  To  publish  in  numbers  monthly 
by  subscription,  commencing  with  the  year  1 8  to — a  work  entitled  the 
Christian  Monitor,  each  number  to  consist  of  24  pages,  stitched  in 
blue,  price  12^  cents,  type  and  paper  as  in  the  foregoing  addr«»i. 


210  Declaration  and  Address 


The  numbers  to  be  delivered  to  the  subscribers  at  the  respective 
places  appointed  for  distribution.  The  execution  of  this  work  to 
commence  as  soon  as  500  annual  subscribers  can  be  obtained.  It  is 
to  be  understood  that  a  number  for  each  month  will  be  duly  delivered, 
though  it  is  probable  that  the  first  two  or  three  numbers  may  come 
together,  as  it  is  not  likely  that  the  number  of  subscribers  above 
specified  can  be  obtained  in  time  to  commence  the  publication  in  the 
month  of  January,  now  so  near  at  hand. 

Also  to  prepare  for  the  press  and  proceed  to  publish  as  soon  as  a 
competent  number  of  subscribers  can  be  obtained,  a  work  entitled  the 
Christian  Catechism,  to  consist  of  upwards  of  one  hundred  pages, 
type  and  paper  as  above,  price  50  cents.  There  will  be  prefixed  to 
this  work_a  dissertation  upon  the  perfection  and  sufficiency  of  the  holy 
Scriptures;  in  which  care  will  be  taken  to  detect  and  expose  thatun- 
happy*ingenuity  which  has  been  so  frequently  exerted  to  prevent 
and  wrest  them  from  the  obvious  purpose  for  which  they  were 
graciously  designed. 


Bibliography 


Ainslie,  Peter,  of  Dunnsville.    "  Life  of  George  W.  Abell."  1875. 
Baxter,  Richard.    "  The  Practical  Works  of  Richard  Baxter."  1707. 
Bossuet,  James  Benign.    "  History  of  the  Variations  of  the  Protes- 
tant Churches."    2  vols.    Sadlier  edition.  1884. 
Boston,  Thomas.    "  Human  Nature  in  its  Fourfold  State."    177 1. 
Brown,  John  T.    "  Churches  of  Christ."  1904. 
Campbell,  Thomas.    "  A  Declaration  and  Address."  1809. 
Campbell,  Alexander.    The  Christian  Baptist.    Monthly  periodical. 
1 823- 1 830. 

The  Millennial  Harbinger.    Monthly  periodical.  1830- 
1870. 

"  Debate  With  Robert  Owen."  1829. 
"  Debate  With  Bishop  John  B.  Purcell."  1837. 
"  Debate  With  N.  L.  Rice."  1843. 
Dorchester,  Daniel.    "  History  of  Christianity  in  the  United  States." 
1888. 

Dowding,  W.  C.    "  The  Life  and  Correspondence  of  George  Calix- 
tus."  1863. 

Fisher,  Edward.    "  The  Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity."  Dawson 
edition.  1651. 
^  Garrison,  J.  H.    "  The  Story  of  a  Century."  1909. 

"  Christian  Union."  1906. 
"  Garrison,  W.  E.    "  Alexander  Campbell's  Theology."  1900. 
^  Gates,  Errett.    "  The  Early  Relation  and  Separation  of  Baptists  and 
Disciples."  1904. 
Grafton,  T.  W.    "  Life  of  Alexander  Campbell."  1897. 
Grotius,  Hugo.    "  The  Rights  of  War  and  Peace."    3  vols.  Booth- 

royd  edition.  1814. 
Haldane,  Alexander.    "  Lives  of  Robert  and  James  A.  Haldane." 
1852. 

Hodge,  F.  A.    "  The  Plea  and  the  Pioneers  in  Virginia."  1905. 
Hurst,  John  F.    "  Short  History  of  the  Christian  Church."  1892. 
Jeter,  J.  B.    "  Campbellism  Examined."  1855. 
Locke,  John.    "  An  Essay  Concerning  Human  Understanding."  2 
vols.  1894. 

211 


212 


Bibliography 


Longan,  G.  W.    "  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ."    Answer  t» 

Dr.  Whitsitt.  1889. 
McLean,  A.    "  Alexander  Campbell  as  a  Preacher."  1908. 
Moore,  W.  T.    "  History  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ."  1909. 
Newman,  A.  H.    "  History  of  the  Baptists."    American  Church 

Histoi-y  Series.  1894. 
Richardson,  Robert.    "  Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell."  1868. 
Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques.    '•  The  Social  Contract."    Tozer  edition. 
1909. 

Stillingfleet,  Edward.    "  Irenicum."  1662. 
Stone,  B.  W.    "  Autobiography  of  B.  W.  Stone."  1846. 
Tyler,  B.  B.    "  History  of  the  Disciples."    American  Church  His- 
tory Series.  1894. 
Van  Kirk,  Hiram.    "  The  Rise  of  the  Current  Reformation."  1907. 
WTiitsitt,  W.  H.    "  Origin  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ."  1888. 
'  Willett,  H.  L.    "  Our  Plea  for  Union  and  the  Present  Crisis."  1901. 
°  Williams,  John  A.    "  Life  of  John  Smith."  1870. 
Witsius,  Herman.    "  The  Economy  of  the  Covenants  Between  God 

and  Man."    3  vols.    Kirk  edition.  1804. 
Young,  C.  A.    "  Historical    Documents    Advocating  Christian 
Union."  I904- 


Prmttd  in  the  Uoittd  Statu  of  Amtritt 


OTHER  BOOKS  BY 


PETER  AINSLIE 


God  and  Me 

Being  a  Brief  Manual  of  the  Principles  that  Make  for  a 
Closer  Relationship  of  the  Believer  with  God 

Fourth  Edition.    i2mo,  48  pages.    Board,  25  cents.  Published 
also  in  London  and  India.    Translated  into  Hindi. 

Bishop  John  H.  Vincent,  Chicago,  says  :  "  Every  morning  1  read 
a  page  or  two  of  •  God  and  Me,'  which  has  been  especially  comfort- 
ing. Such  books  serve  as  a  taste  of  the  water  of  life  from  the  cups 
that  good  people  hand  me." 

Rev.  Alex.  Whyte,  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  says :  "  '  God  and  Me  ' — 
first  rate." 

Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Kinnaird,  England,  says .-  "  I  hope  '  God  and  Me ' 
may  be  a  means  of  helping  many  young  friends." 

"  The  Standard,"  Chicago,  says  :  "  It  is  an  exquisite  booklet,  a  ver- 
itable casket  of  jewels.  It  is  a  worthy  vade  mecum  for  every  believer." 

Rev.  George  H.  Morrison,  Glasgow,  Scotland,  says :  "  It  is  fresh 
and  strong,  and,  above  all,  it  rings  true  to  a  deep  personal  experience. 
That  is  what  makes  its  appeal  to  others  so  powerful." 

Rev.  H.  W.  Webb-Peploe,  Prebendary,  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Lon- 
don, says  :  "  I  am  able  to  say  with  some  confidence  that  I  think  it 
exceedingly  helpful  to  any  young  Christian.  The  thoughts  are  good, 
the  poetry  is  well  chosen,  and  the  application  of  God's  Word  is  well 
and  thoughtfully  made." 

Rev.  Charles  H.  Dodd,  Minister  Eutaw  Place  Baptist  Church,  Bal- 
timore, says :  "  I  have  been  having  some  precious  hours  with  the 
book  entitled  '  God  and  Me.'  It  is  a  rare  production.  It  possesses 
the  spiritualizing  power  of  the  true  devotional  manual.  The  literary 
flavour  throughout  is  delightful." 

Sir  John  Kirk,  England,  says  :  "  I  cannot  help  tliinking  that  the 
author  has  accomplished  his  object,  for  '  God  and  Me '  is  pithily 
brief  and  a  book  likely  to  build  up  a  strong  Christian  character." 

Judge  T.  R.  B.  Wright,  Virginia,  says  :  "  I  commend  this  book  for 
daily  reading  to  all  who  desire  truly  to  strive  for  closer  fellowship 
with  God." 

Gov.  E.  F.  Noel,  Jackson,  Miss.,  says :  "  It  is  well  written,  giving 
Biblical  and  moral  truths  in  an  interesting  and  attractive  style." 

President  Waldo  Newcomer,  National  Exchange  Bank,  Baltimore, 
says:  "  I  have  found  it  a  wonderfully  interesting  and  satisfying  book." 

Rev.  J.  Stuart  Holden,  London,  England,  says :  "  I  am  glad  to 
testify  to  the  helpfulness  of  'God  and  Mc.'  " 

"Baltimore  Methodist,"  Baltimore,  says:  "It  is  comprehensive,,, 
clear,  conclusive  and  free  from  all  denominational  bias — a  book  that  ' 
any  pastor  may  place  in  the  hands  of  his  young  converts  with  a  cer- 
tainty that  it  will  prove  helpful  to  them." 


My  Brother  and  I 

Being  a  Brief  Manual  of  the  Principles  that  Make  for  a 

Wider  Brotherhood  with  all  Mankind 
12  mo,  6 1  pages.    Board,  25  cents. 

Rev.  W.  T.  Manning,  Rector  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  says  :  "  I 
am  impressed  both  by  the  wisdom  of  its  counsel  and  by  the  beauty 
of  its  spirit." 

Rev.  Oliver  Huckel,  Minister  Associate  Congregational  Church, 
Baltimore,  says  :  "  It  is  a  multum  in  parvo — so  much  rich  spir- 
itual truth  and  so  much  sanctified  common  sense  in  its  too  few  pages. 
It  is  of  the  flavour  of  a  spiritual  classic." 

"  The  Watchman,"  Boston,  says  :  "  The  two  books — '  God  and  Me  ' 
and  '  My  Brother  and  I ' — cover  the  whole  range  of  the  highest  spir- 
itual fellowship,  the  fellowship  of  love — love  to  God  and  love  to 
man.  This  last  book  treats  of  brotherhood  in  a  helpful,  practical 
way,  showing  that  the  true  idea  of  brotherhood  consists  in  the  burial 
of  self  and  the  surrender  to  our  fellow  men." 

"New  York  Christian  Advocate,"  New  York,  says:  "A  timely 
book,  leaning  towards  the  socializing  tendency  of  present  day  relig- 
ion.   It  is  briefly  stated;  it  is  well  stated  and  has  some  new  ideas." 

Rev.  0.  C.  S.  Wallace,  Minister  First  Baptist  Church,  Baltimore, 
says  :  "  It  is  fine  and  fragrant,  freighted  with  the  good  things  of  the 
garden  of  the  Lord,  where  the  author  found  them  and  whence  he 
brought  them  for  those  who  are  his  brothers  in  indissoluble  bonds.  It 
quiets  the  perturbed  spirit.  It  bids  the  heart  love,  trust  and  endure." 
■jrRev.  Arthur  B.  Kinsolvlng,  Rector  St.  Paul's  Church,  Baltimore, 
says :  "  The  spirit  is  so  interpretive  of  what  is  truly  and  broadly 
fraternal,  what  will  make  for  mutual  understanding  and  allowance, 
that  it  must  do  great  good.    I  find  in  it  the  vision  and  heart  of  unity." 

Rev.  W.  H.  Roberts,  Stated  Clerk  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  says :  "  It  is  very  readable  and 
will  attract  wide  attention.  It  evinces  a  remarkable  power  in  the 
way  of  expressing  conceptions  of  truth." 

"  Christian  Standard,"  Cincinnati,  O.,  says :  "  It  is  a  volume  of  rare 
beauty.  It  is  a  series  of  meditations  on  all  the  aspects  under  which 
one  should  deal  with  his  brother  man." 

"Christian  Advocate,"  Nashville,  Tenn.,  says:  "  It  discusses  with 
reverent  spirit  and  clear  discerning  eye  those  fundamental  principles 
of  true  socialism,  which  are  found  in  the  word  of  God.  No  one  can 
read  the  book  sympathetically  without  being  drawn  closer  to  God, 
as  his  heart  makes  a  larger  place  for  the  *  other  man.'  " 

President  F.  D.  Kershner,  Texas  Christian  University,  Fort  Worth, 
Tex.,  says  :  "  It  is  a  gem — exquisite  in  thought  and  rich  in  its  setting 
of  limpid  truth.  There  is  a  sense  of  delightful  fitness  about  every 
phrase,  which,  as  is  also  true  of '  God  and  Me,'  irresistibly  recalls  the 
'  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver.'  " 

Rev.  W.  C.  Bitting,  Minister  Second  Baptist  Church,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  says :  "  I  have  read  it  through  with  great  interest  and  am  de- 
lighted with  it." 


Among  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts 


Being  an  Expository  and  Devotional  Study  in  the 
Life  of  Christ  and  the  First  Thirty  Tears' 
History  of  His  Church 
1 2mo,  410  pages.    Cloth,  net  ^i.oo;  10  cents  postage. 
"  The  Watchman,"  Boston,  says  :  "  This  is  one  of  the  most  useful 
books  dealing  with  these  subjects  that  has  appeared  for  a  long  time." 

"The  Religious  Telescope,"  Dayton,  O.,  says  :  "There  is  nothing 
superior  as  to  the  arrangement,  the  style  or  the  diction.  The  Gospel 
writings  are  studied  in  order  and  their  works  given  a  running  exposi- 
tory treatment." 

"  The  Standard,"  Chicago,  says  :  "  It  is  illuminated  by  pertinent 
historical  or  literary  material  which  the  author  has  gathered  from  a 
wide  range  of  reading." 

"  The  Baltimore  American,"  Baltimore,  says  :  "  Every  comment  is 
pertinent  and  vital ;  scholarly,  without  being  pedantic;  fitted  for  the 
workman  who  wants  an  implement,  as  well  as  for  the  student  who 
seeks  truth ;  always  adapted  to  the  believer  whose  desire  is  to 
obtain  spiritual  nutriment." 

"  The  New  York  Observer,"  New  York,  says  :  "  It  is  a  beautiful 
book,  presenting  a  common-sense  plan  of  study  for  busy  people." 

"  The  Christian  Endeavor  World,"  Boston,  says :  "  Beginners  will 
find  help  in  their  study  of  the  Bible  by  the  perusal  of  this  book," 


The  Signs  of  His  Coming 

Being  a  Brief  Argument  for  the  Imminence  of  Our 
Lord^s  Second  Coming 

Second  Edition.    42  pages,  10  cents. 

Rev.  Q.  Campbell  Morgan,  London,  England,  says :  "  It  seems  to 
me  to  be  a  book  most  timely  and  its  freshness  and  force  should  make 
it  valuable.  I  trust  that  it  may  get  into  the  hands  of  very  many, 
who  are  wilfully  or  ignorantly  indifferent  to  the  blessed  hope  of  the 
Church." 

"  The  Christian  Century,"  Chicago,  111.,  says :  "  It  is  Scriptural 

and  well  argued." 


Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Bible 

Being  a  Brief  Study  Including  a  System  of  l^erse 
Marking  and  the  Verses  Indicated 

l2mo,  paper,  71  pages.    50  cents. 

Prof.  James  Orr,  Glasgow,  Scotland,  says  :  "  It  is  well  planned, 
simple  and  fitted  to  serve  a  very  useful  purpose." 


HOMILETICS  AND  CHURCH  WORK 


DAVID  JAMES  BURRELL,  P.P. 

The  Sermon  :  Its  Construction  and  Delivery 
James  Sprunt  Lectures.    8vo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

Few  preachers  of  the  day  have  a  larger  body  of  admiring 
readers  of  their  sermons  than  Dr.  Burrell.  A  half  score  of 
volumes  of  his  discourses  enjoy  a  large  and  steady  sale. 
What  has  been  the  secret  of  his  success  in  the  pulpit?  The 
reader  will  doubtless  find  the  answer  in  this  illuminating 
treatise  on  the  construction  and  delivery  of  the  sermon. 
The  work  is  the  result  of  forty  years  of  observation  not 
pastorate. 

P.  MARION  SIMMS 

What  Must  the  Church  Do  to  Be  Saved  ? 

The  Necessity  and  Possibihty  of  the  Unity  of 
Protestantism.    i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

From_  a  first-hand  observation  the  author  brings  together  a 
body  of  facts  which  emphasize  strongly  the  necessity  for  a 
practical  vinion  among  the  denominations  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  America  to  fulfill  her  mission.  The  remedies  pro- 
posed by  the  author  are  set  forth  with  a  reasonableness  and 
straightforwardness  which  invite  the  respect  of  all  readers. 

PETER  AINSLIE  Autliorof"GodandMe'' 

The  Message  of  the  Disciples  for  the 
Union  of  the  Church 

Including  Their  Origin  and  History.  i2mo,  cloth, 
net  $1.00. 

The  author  is  president  of  the  Commission  on  Christian 
Union  of  the  Disciples  Church  and  these  lectures  delivered 
before  the  Yale  Divinity  School  with  unusual  success  are  an 
interpretation  of  the  message,  origin  and  history  of  the  Dis- 
ciples of  Christ. 

CHARLES  F.  THIVING,  LLP. 

The  Working  Church 

i6mo,  cloth,  net  60c. 

A  practical  handbook  of  methods  of  church  work  helpful 
to  the  average  pastor.  The  noted  author,  a  leader  in  the 
Congregational  world,  speaks  from  out  the  long  experience  of 
a  notably  successful  pastor. 


SERMONS,  ADDRESSES,  ETC. 


B.  H.  CARROLL,  P.P. 

Baptists  and  Their  Doctrines : 

Sermons  on  Distinctive  Baptist  Principles.  Com- 
piled by  J.  B.  Cranfill,  LL.D.  i2mo,  cloth,  net  $i.00. 
_  Will  at  once  take  its  place  as  a  standard  work  on  Bap- 
tist beliefs.  The  author  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  highest 
authorities  on  matters  of  Baptist  history,  polity  and  doctrine. 


DEVOTIONAL  STUDIES 


CAMPBELL  MORGAN 
Sunrise:  Behold  He  Cometh  Cloth,  net  sec. 

"This  is  a  little  book  which  deals  with  C3irist's  sec- 
tud  coming.  Dr.  Morgan  discusses  in  his  reasonable,  satis- 
'ying   and    preeminently    spiritual    way   this    subject  which 

eaould  have  the  serious  consideration  of  every  Christian." 

^-Northwestern   Christian  Advocate. 

£.  D.  GORDON 

Ouiet  Talks  About  Our  Lord's  Return 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  75c. 

In  the  Preface  of  this  new  volume  in  the  Quiet  Talks  Sc- 
fies,  the  author  says:  "In  my  boyhood  days  I  heard  much 
from  Mr.  Moody's  lips  about  our  Lord's  return.  Later  I 
became  rather  confused  over  the  different  teachings  regard- 
ing it  until  it  was  practically  pushed  out  of  my  working  pro- 
gram. Iben  I  was  led  to  pick  up  the  Bible  afresh  on  this 
•ubject.  The  result  finally  arrived  at  has  profoundly  af- 
fected my  outlook  as  a  follower  of  Jesus  Christ." 

S.  D.  GORDON 

Prayer  Changes  Things  Boards:,  net  35c. 

i6mo,  boards,  net  35c. 
To  that  g^reat  army  of  Christians  throughout  the  world 
who  are  in  quest  of  devotional  and  inspirational  literature 
will  come  as  an  exposition  of  a  most  vexed  problem." 

~N,  y.  Observer. 

S.  D.  GORDOM 

The  Quiet  Time 

Including  the  "Finnish  Gold  Story"  with  Prayer 
Pages  for  each  Day  of  the  Week.   Boards,  net  25c. 

/.  WILBUR  CHAPMAN 

Power.    "Received  Ye  the  Holy  Ghesi?" 
An  Appeal  to  Every  Christian.    Revised  and  Bn- 
'arged  Edition.    i6tno,  cloth,  net  50c. 

/.  C._  MASSEE,  D.D. 

Men  and  the  Kingdom 

lamo,  cloth,  net  75c. 

A  study  of  the  relation  of  the  men  of  to-day  to  the  ettaV 
Ushment  of  the  Kingdom  of  He«ven  on  earth.  The  work  i* 
B  vi»ion  and  a  prophecy  of  a  dawning  day. 


FOR  THE  OUIET  HOUR 


CHARLES  G.  TRUMBULL 

Messages  for  the  Morning  Watch 

Devotional  Studies  in  Genesis.  i2mo,  cloth,  net  $i.cxj 
The  value  of  these  morning  messages  from  the  pen  of 
thc_  editor  of  The  Sunday  School  Times  will  be  found  is 
their  practical  application  to  everyday  Christian  living.  Evi- 
dently written  out  of  a  heart  experience  in  counectioo  with 
devout  personal  study,  they  throb  with  life. 

PROF.  J.  SHERMAN  WALLACE 

The  Real  Imitation  of  Chri^ 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  750. 

The  purpose  of  the  book  is  to  convince  the  youth  of  to- 
day that  to  imitate  the  Christ  life  is  both  possible  and  desir- 
able. Each  distinguishing  moral  characteristic  of  Jesus  it 
presented  in  a  separate  chapter.  As  a  leader  of  young  peo- 
ple's work  and  a  teacher  of  youth  the  author  possesses  both 
the  ability  and  experience  needed  to  arrest  and  hold  tke 
attention  of  the  young  reader.  There  is  a  dynamic  power 
in  these  chapters  that  will  generate  in  the  mind  of  the  reader 
a  strong  desire  to  imitate  the  great  example. 

EVAN  HOPKINS 

Broken  Bread  for  Daily  Use 

32mo,  cloth,  net  50c.  Limp  leather,  gilt  edge,  net,  $1. 
The  author  who  is  editor  of  "The  Life  of  Faith"  has 
taken  for  his  every  day  comment  the  "head  line  texts"  in 
that  most  popular  of  devotional  aids,  "Daily  Light  on  the 
Daily  Path."  The  result  is  a  very  unusual  little  guide  to 
spiritual  thinking  which  will  bring  inspiration  and  uplift  for 
each  new  day. 

ANDREW  MURRAY 

The  State  of  the  Church 

A  Plea  for  More  Prayer.   i2mo,  cloth,  net  75c. 

Dr.  Murray  deplores  the  lack  of  spiritual  vigor  in  the 
churches  and  believes  the  chief  cause  is  a  decline  in  th« 
prayer  life  of  the  individual.  Ihe  book  constitutes  a  stirrinj 
appeal  to  the  Church  to  inaugurate  a  period  of  deeper  con- 
secration and  prayer.  This  the  author  shows  is  essential  be- 
fore truly  aggressive  and  effective  missionary  work,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  can  be  done. 

ENOCH  E.  BYRUM 

The  Secret  of  Prayer 

Suggeftions  How  to  Pray.    i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 
A  most  devotional  as  well  as  evangelical  study  of  prayer 
together  with  suggestions  as  to  how  best  to  pray. 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  PRACTICAL  RELIGION 


7.  H.  JOWETT,  P.P. 

The  Transfigrured  Church 

X2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 
"On  every  tide  we  hear  the  lament  that  the  church  il 

without  power.  The  possibilities  of  the  church,  if  all  it» 
powers  were  put  in  motion,  are  here  most  wonderfully  por- 
trayed. This  book  should  inspire  every  Christian  with  am 
hope  and  increased  zeal." — United  Presbyterian. 

SAMUEL  ZANE  BATTEN,  P.P. 

'    The  Social  Task  of  Christianitii 

A  Summons  to  the  New  Crusade.  Net  $125. 
A  frank  and  clear  statement  of  the  meaning;  and  method 
of  Social  Service.  This  is  the  first  definite  and  frank  state- 
ment of  the  new  task  facing  modern  Cfaristianitr  with  a  scien- 
tific and  comprehensive  program  of  action.  I^e  author  is  a 
recognized  writer  on  Sociology;  his  experience  as  a  pactor 
entitles  him  to  speak  with  authority  upon  this  Tit«l  theme. 

fV.  FORBES  GRAY  (Editor) 

Non-Church-Going :  Its  Reasons  and 

Remedies     i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

Kever  before  have  the  opinioaa  of  such  a  galaxy  of 
prominent  men  «n  this  question  been  presented  in  one  vol- 
ume, discussing  the  subject  from  nearly  every  possible  angle. 
3Ir  Oliver  Lodge  William  Wsrd  Heeler  Macpherson 

Ptebendapr  Carlili         Frank  Ballard,  D.  D.       Thomas  Martin,  1).  D. 
F.  Herbert  Stead,  M.A.    J.  R.  MacDonald,  D.D.    P.  Whitwell  Wllwa 
Prof.  Stalker,  D.D.         J.  I.  Ratteaburt  John  W.  Gulliad,  M.  K 

Rieht  Hon.  Sir  J.  CoiDptoB  Rickett,  M.  D. 

JOHS  F.  POBBS 

The  Modem  Man  and  the  Church 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

A  timely  work.  Problems  are  very  clearly  stated.  The 
atiihor  shows  deep  insight  into  present  day  conditions  both 
within  and  without  the  church.  The  book  gives  the  im- 
pres«ion  of  a  fair  and  honest  seeker  after  the  truth  of  thing* 
as  they  really  are.  with  ability  to  cKprws  himself  in  ab*i>- 
lately  unhachocyed  and  freah  style. 

WILLIAM  B.  PATTERSON 

Modem  Church  Brotherhoods 

^j^o,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

.  '  aurvey  of  practical  activities  by  and  throogh  the  mn 
,    ."^   Qiurcn.    It  is  a  presentation  of  the  Brotherhoods,  >ot 
°         ory,  but  in  action, 
m  the 


SOCIOLOGY  AND  PRACTICAL  RELIGION 


FREDERIC  J.  HASKIN  Axuhorof 

"The  American  Government" 

The  Immigrant :  An  Asset  and  a  Liability 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

The  basis  for  this  book  is  a  series  of  articles  in  nearly 
fifty  leading  dailies  in  the  United  States  which  attracted  wide- 
spread interest  and  approval.  The  author,  a  well-known  news- 
paper correspondent  is  noted  for  his  accuracy  and  thorough- 
ness. He  has  treated  each  phase  of  the  question  in  a  pains- 
tking,  scientific  manner.  The  text  bristles  with  statistics, 
illustrations,  generalizations  and  deductions  all  welded  to- 
gether into  3  crisp,  straightforward  narration  of  absorbing 
interest.  It  might  very  properly  be  called  an  encyclopedic 
handbook  on  the  subject  of  Immigation. 

CHARLES  STELZLE 

The  Gospel  of  Labor 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  50c. 

lliis  volume  of  talks  to  working  men  is  characteristic  of 
the  author  of  "Letters  From  a  Workingman."  Dr.  Stelzle 
is  rightly  called  "The  Apostle  of  the  American  Laborer." 
Once  a  workingman  himself  he  knows  just  how  to  reach  the 
men  of  this  class.  The  sympathy  and  understanding  of  like 
experiences  inform  his  addresses  and  carry  the  message  home 
to  the  heart. 

PROFESSOR  JAMES  R.  HOJVERTON 

The  Church  and  Social  Reform 

i2mo.  cloth,  net  75c. 

This  compact  little  volume  on  Christianity  and  social  con- 
ditions presents  the  subject  in  three  sections:  First,  "The 
Church  and  Revolutions  of  the  Past";  Second,  "The  Causes 
of  the  Present  Social  Crisis";  Third,  "The  Church  and 
Social  Reforms  of  To-daj'."  The  student  of  social  conditi  ns 
will  find  here  a  very  clear  and  satisfactory  historical  state- 
ment, a  graphic  analysis  of  the  causes  of  the  present  discon- 
tent and  a  rationale  of  alleviation  that  will  arouse  discussion 
and  open  the  eyes  of  Christian  citizens  to  their  duty  in  the 
present  crisis. 


YOUNG  MEN 


JOHN  DOUGLAS  ADAM,  P.P. 

Letters  of  Father  and  Son  During  a 

College  Course       i2mo,  cloth,  net  $i.oa 

There  is  plenty  of  practical  everyday  common  sense  in 
these  letters  in  addition  to  the  spiritual  philosophy  which 
characterizes  them.  In  twenty-four  chapters  life's  great 
problems  are  discussed  with  freedom  and  insight  Study, 
recreation,  friends,  use  of  time,  money,  health,  speech, 
thought,  influence,  religion,  trouble,  optimism  and  character 
are  some  of  the  subjects  treated. 


Date  Due 

tCT'  -tmiii 

,.  - 

f) 

